The Bihar governor’s decision to appoint retired Army officers as registrars of universities has understandably raised many eyebrows in the state. Of the 12 appointments Governor Satya Pal Malik has made, 10 are ex- Army men while two are retired bureaucrats. Although the governor was not violating any rule, registrars have traditionally been appointed from the teaching community. The explanation offered is: Army men are highly disciplined and they will administer universities better. Registrars are the de facto administrative and financial heads of universities.
Although there is no universally applicable role of a registrar as the exact responsibilities differ from university to university, among their main jobs is to provide quality student service and supervise admissions. In most universities in India and abroad these tasks have always been performed by registrars appointed from the teaching community. The logic perhaps has been that teachers will be better placed to understand the needs of students.
In India, this practice is increasingly being given the go-by. Even vice chancellors are being picked from outside the teaching community. Retired Lt General Zameeruddin Shah was for long the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Najeeb Jung, a career bureaucrat, was the vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia before he was appointed the lieutenant governor of Delhi. There is perhaps nothing wrong in these appointments. It is after all the prerogative of the government. But to justify these appointments on the ground that retired Army officers and bureaucrats are better suited for the job is to say that teachers are third-rate administrators.
If retired officers were better at managing universities, then AMU would not have witnessed many a student agitation when Lt General Shah was at the helm. Jung would not have faced the wrath of students on many occasions. The Bihar governor would have done well to recall these before he went ahead with, in a way, militarising temples of learning.