9 culture hubs stay headless
- 7 months after Parliament prod,
vacancies at top not filled
New
Delhi, Dec. 20: Seven
months after a parliamentary standing committee asked the culture ministry to
fast-track appointments to plug vacancies at the top in institutions within its
domain, nine of the 15 organisations audited in April remain headless. Three
are based in Calcutta.
Most
of these institutions have been without a permanent head for well over a year
now. The day-to-day administration of these institutions has been placed in the
hands of either bureaucrats in the ministry or heads of other institutions as
an additional charge.
Of
the nine headless institutions, three - the National Library (Calcutta), the
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Delhi, and the Calcutta-headquartered
Anthropological Survey of India - are subordinate offices of the ministry.
The
remaining six - the National Archives of India (Delhi), Delhi Public Library,
Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library (Patna), Rampur Raza Library (Uttar
Pradesh), Indian Museum (Calcutta) and the Salarjung Museum (Hyderabad) - are
autonomous bodies under the culture ministry.
Sources
attributed part of the delay in completing the "head-hunting" process
to finding candidates that make the cut not just in terms of qualifications but
also agreeable to the current dispensation.
Also,
the ministry has tweaked the recruitment rules in the case of some
institutions, including the Anthropological Survey of India, the National
Library and the Delhi Public Library, thereby delaying the process.
At
the Delhi Public Library, the ministry has decided to revive the post of
director-general.
The
selection process is nearing completion in Khuda Baksh Library and Rampur Raza
Library. The file is now with the cabinet's appointments committee.
For
at least two of the headless institutions - the Anthropological Survey of India
and the National Archives - the ministry has had to advertise twice already and
is still nowhere near arriving at a shortlist.
In
the case of the Anthropological Survey, the decision to re-advertise for a
director was taken by the institution's search-cum-selection committee (SCSC)
on September 14.
At
the National Archives, the director-general's post has already been advertised
twice but the search still continues.
As
for the process for selecting the Indian Museum's director, the post was
advertised in May 2015 and 19 applications had been received. The selection
committee met in March this year but the arrangement put in place on December
21, 2015 - of giving additional charge to Victoria Memorial Hall curator
Jayanta Sengupta - continues till date.
Salarjung
Museum and the NGMA, too, are in the midst of the search.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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