‘First check facts, then comment on Raj Bhawan’

Shimla: The delay in the appointment of vice-chancellor at Chaudhary Shravan Kumar Agricultural University, Palampur, has brought the Raj Bhavan and the state agriculture minister Chander at loggerheads in Himachal Pradesh. After Chander Kumar recently pointed fingers at Raj Bhawan for the delay in the appointment, governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Thursday clearly told the agriculture minister that he should first check the facts and then comment on the governor.Shukla said that he will not do anything against the rules, and will continue to follow the dignity of the governor.
Shiv Pratap Shukla, while addressing media persons in Shimla, also clarified that Raj Bhawan has not stopped the file of appointment of vice-chancellor, rather Raj Bhawan has sent the file related to this appointment back to the state government with its response and Chander Kumar should find out about this file from the government.
“The government has passed a bill in the state assembly and sent it to Raj Bhawan for approval. This bill states that the appointment of the vice-chancellor in Agricultural University should be done as per the wish of the government because the government provides money to run this university. Therefore, the governor should approve the name proposed by the government for the post of vice-chancellor,” Shukla said.
He said that neither there was any such system earlier nor can appointments be made in the Agricultural University as per this law because the Agricultural University Palampur is a technical university. In such a situation, for the appointment of the vice-chancellor in this university, it is necessary to have a representative from the government, one from the UGC and one from the Raj Bhawan. Only the committee of these representatives can select the vice-chancellor, he added.