5 male vice chancellors came and went. But husband-wife stayed until this VC said no
inam ul rehman
Breaking 21-year-old institutional monopoly
As July 31, 2026, approached, there was only one concern for the employees of the Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC): would we see a new director, or would the old regime continue. We went home in a conundrum. The University of Kashmir didn’t issue any notice about who will take charge of our centre.
On
August 03, as we entered our office premises, rumour was that Prof Syed
Muzzaffar Andrabi, dean engineering college, had been nominated as the new
director. We waited throughout Monday to receive him but neither did he come,
nor was the order issued. My colleagues’ shoulders drooped and they became
apprehensive that the old regime had the power to rescind any order of the
University!
But
finally in the afternoon, the University issued an order, and immediately
employees began to distribute sweets.
We
were delirious but it seemed newspapers and online portals were even more
elated to see the change as they splashed news of Prof Syeda Afshana Bhat being
the new director even without the Public Relations Centre of the University
putting it on their official social media handles. Even though the University
changed two other heads, but this news didn’t appear.
As Prof Afshana entered EMRC premises I
Various newspapers had numerous times reported about the University being unable to remove the husband wife duo from the chair.
21
years of uninterrupted rule
Both
the newspapers and the PRC forgot to mention that after a span of 21 long years
EMRC saw a new director taking charge of it. In the University, headship of
every department or centre rotates every three years. But strangely EMRC was
kept out of it.
It
started in 2005. Then vice-chancellor, Prof Wahid Qureshi appointed producer Dr
Shahid Rasool as in-charge director, and the confirmation for a 5-year tenure
post came in 2007. In 2016, he went to CEMCA on deputation for three years. But before
leaving, Dr Shahid took producers and assistant engineer along with him to the
office of then VC Prof Khurshid Andrabi and got his wife, Dr Saleema Jan,
appointed as in-charge director. In 2019, Dr Shahid returned from CEMCA and
took it back from her. A year later, Dr Shahid was appointed as a professor at
the Central University of Kashmir and his wife was back in the chair.
For
21 years, the couple rotated the director's chair within themselves.
UGC
statutes are unambiguous. The post of director is a five-year tenure,
advertised, renewable once, but never beyond ten years. None of it happened
here.
5
Vice Chancellors changed, but the duo was unremovable
During
their 21-year rule the University saw, Prof Wahid Qureshi, Prof Riyaz Punjabi,
Prof Talat Ahmad, Prof AM Shah as an acting VC for 5 months, Prof Khurshid
Andrabi, again Prof Talat Ahmad, and the incumbent Prof Nilofer Khan as vice
chancellors.
Everyone
barring the incumbent VC was unable to dislodge them from the chair. Never ever
did it occur to any VCs why only this couple were getting the chair. With these
many years of rule, employees of the centre started to behave like slaves.
Since anyone appointed in our centre is not transferred to any other department
of the University there was no way any official could challenge whatever their
majesties did.
The
culture it bred
To
be fair to Dr Shahid, as long as he was the head, EMRC functioned well. He
launched weekly video digest “Quest” and made it the epicentre of the
University activities. He didn’t let employees sit idle. The workflow was
great. Strikes or curfews didn’t matter,
our centre was always open for work. If employees wanted to work late, he made
arrangements for it. He was a good manager of human resources. What he lacked
was leadership. He didn’t stand up for his employees when they needed it. He
had his own favourites but then who does not have. But the moment he connived
for his wife; the centre was downgraded. It also stalled the growth of
producers. No one among them became director of the centre.
I
don’t want to put whatever damage the institution suffered during this decade
in public with a new head taking over.
Where
5 male VCs failed
Prof
Afshana, as my friend who knows her says, is efficient, intelligent and honest.
But administering a decrepit centre where for the past many years various
rotten things were done with impunity, is not going to be easy for her. It may
take years to clean the mess. Her efficiency and the power to remain grounded
will be severely tested here.
But it has to be said that the new appointee has already reinvigorated the spirits of employees. The credit for appointing such an efficient institutional head goes to the VC Prof Nilofer. The VC retired Dr Saleema as per the non-teaching age of the University, despite the latter putting up a dogged persistence to secure an age enhancement. She was given level 14, a professor grade which the UGC does not permit for a non-teaching employee without the post being advertised and facing an interview panel, and strangely it was never communicated to the UGC as required for an EMRC official.
Dr
Saleema’s refusal to accept her retirement shows how deeply EMRC had become a
fiefdom in which authority had become personal.
Prof
Nilofer did what five male VCs before her couldn’t do. The rule was always
there, it just needed someone’s will to ensure it. She was able to do what we
thought we would be unable to see in our lifetime. She showed it does not
require extraordinary powers to enforce rules, it only requires person’s will.
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