PUNE: The governor's office has deferred interviews scheduled on January 21 of five shortlisted aspirants for the post of vice-chancellor of University of Pune (UoP). till the new governor assumes his office.

Unexpected developments in Raj Bhavan have jolted the selection process of the vice-chancellor, now in it's final stage. As per the decision by the Center, K. Sankaranarayanan, present governor of Jharkhand, will replace governor-chancellor SC Jamir. As the new chancellor is expected to be sworn in on January 22, it was a forgone conclusion that the interviews would be deferred till the former assumes new charge.

The chancellor's office on Monday sent e-mails to the five shortlisted candidates, stating that scheduled interviews stand cancelled and a revised date will be communicated later. The search committee has shortlisted former director of Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences of UoP, presently academic head of Manipal University Bhushan Patwardhan, Board of Colleges and University Development (BCUD) director Pandit Vidyasagar, professor of Physics department DG Kanhere, IIT-Bombay deputy director RK Shevgaonkar and IIT-Bombay faculty Prakash Gopalan on the final panel for the UoP.

PIL filed in high courtPresident of Forum for Fairness in Education, Jayant Jain has filed a PIL before the Bombay high court challenging the selection process. Jain told Sakaal Times, “The court should cancel this notification as the whole process of V-C selection lacks transparency.”