‘Victim of politics’ or ‘justice’? Ajit Ranade’s dismissal from V-C post splits Pune’s Gokhale institute

Ranade, who was appointed V-C of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics over 2 years ago, was dismissed after a fact-finding committee said his appointment didn't meet UGC norms.

File photo of Ajit Ranade | X/@vvmspeaks

New Delhi: The dismissal of economist Ajit Ranade from the post of vice-chancellor at the Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) Saturday has turned the spotlight on the 94-year-old research institute.

Ajit Ranade became the vice-chancellor (V-C) of GIPE, a deemed university, in June 2022. His removal from this position came after a fact-finding committee of the institute ascertained that his candidacy violated the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.

The fact-finding committee was constituted soon after Bibek Debroy, the current chancellor of GIPE, assumed his position in July 2024. Debroy is also the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

As issued in 2018, the UGC regulations mandate that a person appointed vice-chancellor should be a distinguished academician with a minimum of 10 years of experience as a professor in a university or else a minimum of 10 years of experience in a reputed research organisation or/and an academic, administrative organisation with proof of having demonstrated academic leadership.

The fact-finding committee reported that the qualifications of Ajit Ranade “did not meet the norms set forth by the UGC guidelines”. Its report further stated that it was “legally untenable” for him to remain in the role of vice-chancellor due to his appointment not meeting the necessary legal and regulatory criteria. Stating this, the committee strongly recommended his removal from the position.

A termination letter, issued to Ajit Ranade by Chancellor Debroy on Saturday, formalised this recommendation.

The decision to remove Ajit Ranade has divided the institute faculty, management board, and officials. A section has claimed Ranade has become a victim of “internal politics”, while the other has asserted that “justice has been served”.

The former section told ThePrint that Ajit Ranade was “terrific” during his V-C tenure of two and a half years and brought many positive changes in the institute. They called the dismissal of a renowned economist such as Ranade a “disgrace” for the legacy institute.

The other section of the faculty had issues with what they saw as Ranade’s “leftist and liberal” approach, a former member of the GIPE administration said, speaking to ThePrint. “There were complaints galore of how Ranade was promoting GIPE as a platform for leftist views and, on occasions, was critical of the government.”

Questions over Ranade’s politics and way of functioning 

According to some members of the GIPE board of management and administration, Ajit Ranade, as an economist, has always been vocal about the economic policies adopted by the central government. Ranade has served in several committees at the Reserve Bank of India and apex committees of national industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. He has also served as the former executive president and chief economist at the Aditya Birla Group.

The former member of the GIPE administration pointed out that while delivering his keynote address during the Outlook Money Conclave in 2020, Ajit Ranade said that India’s “current economic context is not happy” and criticised Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for not mentioning that in her budget speech.

A senior faculty member working with the institute said on the condition of anonymity that the V-C also raised eyebrows in 2023 after the appointment of former Ashoka University faculty Sabyasachi Das as a visiting faculty of GIPE for a brief period last year.

Das resigned from Ashoka University following a controversy over his research paper — ‘Democratic backsliding in the world’s largest democracy’ — in August 2023.

“A section of the (GIPE) faculty had voiced concerns over how Das’s appointment was done without proper consultation,” the faculty member said.

The faculty member, however, added, “As an economist, he (Ranade) has been critical of economic policies, but he, as the V-C, never came across as a leftist. He would not have increased the fees by a considerably high proportion if he had a leftist approach.”

The faculty member highlighted that Ranade invited senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders such as Ram Madhav and Vinay Saharabuddhe as guests to deliver talks at the institute.

“He also attended an RSS event where he was invited as the chief guest in Pune in October 2023,” the faculty member said.

Speaking to ThePrint, another faculty member called Ajit Ranade an “opportunist”. “One should not forget that he was not removed from the post for his politics and ideology. He was not eligible for the post in the first place,” said the faculty member, who, earlier this year, raised concerns over Ranade’s style of functioning.

This member was among faculty members, who, in January this year, registered a complaint against Ranade, saying the V-C made unauthorised staff appointments and raised tuition fees for several courses quite soon after taking over.

Another senior faculty member, requesting anonymity, said, “He was not familiar with the functioning of GIPE. Though the V-C has a lot of powers, he cannot make unilateral decisions. He did not involve the faculty in major decision-making processes. For instance, institutional policies such as fee hikes, reductions in pensionary benefits for some staff, etc., were neither brought up in faculty meetings nor discussed with the staff. Therefore, a section of teaching and non-teaching members revolted and reached out to the chancellor.”

When asked about the appointments, the faculty member said, “He created some posts, including that of the OSD (officer on special duty), chief of staff and some visiting professors, without following the required process. No one was consulted, and no advertisements called for applications. People known to him were hired directly to these posts, on high salaries.”

However, a member of the GIPE board, associated with GIPE’s founding society, Servants of Indian Society, disagreed. The member, who did not want to be named, said that Ranade brought many renowned academicians and industrialists to the board.

“He started many new courses and a centre for geopolitics and geoeconomics. He also studied social issues such as Maratha reservations, among others. During his tenure, classrooms were upgraded, and hostel capacity was increased. It (his dismissal) is nothing but internal politics by some present and former faculty members to bring a bad name to the institute,” the board member said.

Many in the policy space have extended solidarity to Ranade on social media.

Nitin Pai, the co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think-tank and school of public policy, wrote on X, “This tells you why the Indian university system is crumbling. It resists attempts to reform it.  Ajit Ranade is one of India’s finest intellectuals and eminently qualified to head a university. Yet the system is stacked against people like him. Feel sorry for Gokhale Institute.”

Controversy surrounding Ranade’s appointment as V-C 

At GIPE, Ajit Ranade first courted controversy at the time of his appointment as V-C. Before he was appointed the V-C in 2022, he was a member of the board of management, the highest decision-making body of the institute.

A serving board member, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint that Ranade was still a board member when a search-cum-selection committee was constituted in 2021 to select the V-C. According to the member, Ranade resigned from the board before the committee invited him to apply for the V-C post.

The committee comprised eminent persons from academia, government institutions, and industry. It included a former V-C of Vishwa Bharti University, former RBI deputy director Shyamala Gopinath, and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research’s former director Mahendra Dev.

Ranade then became the first V-C of GIPE. Earlier, the head of the institute was called ‘director’, and Rajas Parchure was the last officiating GIPE director. In 2021, when the institute adopted UGC regulations, it created the post of V-C.

According to a former senior functionary associated with GIPE, Ranade had not applied for the V-C post. “The search-cum-selection committee invited him to apply. The committee re-checked his credentials and found that he met the eligibility criteria, after which it appointed him to the top post,” the former functionary told ThePrint.

Ranade had appeared before the search-cum-selection committee for an interview after resigning from the management board. “It was a completely independent selection process,” the functionary said.

A serving board member, requesting anonymity, told ThePrint that before that, the nomination of Professor Mahendra Dev to the search-cum-selection committee had raised concerns. “Ranade proposed his name when he was a board member,” the member said, adding that Dev was in the committee that appointed Ranade as V-C.

Back then, Servants of Indian Society raised the matter.

The society wrote to then-chancellor Rajiv Kumar, saying, “We, the trustee of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), want to bring the following facts to your notice: It is learnt that Dr. Ajit Ranade and Prof. Abhay Pethe has been invited for interviews for the post of Vice Chancellor of GIPE. In fact, both of them are members of the Board of Management, the highest decision-making Body. Also, they (BOM) have proposed the name of Prof. Mahendra Dev as a member of the Search-Cum-Selection Committee, and therefore their (Ranade’s and Pethe’s) participation in the entire process of selection of V-C as candidate would amount to conflict of interest. It is absolutely unethical and morally inappropriate (sic).”

Ranade did not respond to calls and messages by ThePrint. Instead, he forwarded a statement he had issued on Saturday. “This is truly unfortunate and a shocking decision. For the past two-and-a-half years, I have been working diligently and to the best of my ability, contributing to positive developments in the institute. These results seem to have been completely ignored,” the statement read.

What led to Ranade’s removal

In December 2023, former GIPE faculty member Murali Krishna, who was removed from GIPE in 2018 over allegations of “misconduct”, filed a complaint with the UGC, alleging that Ajit Ranade’s appointment violated UGC regulations and that Ranade lacked ten years of experience as a professor.

Acting on his complaint, the UGC wrote to then-GIPE chancellor Rajiv Kumar twice in January this year, seeking an action taken report.

Around the same time, a group of teaching and non-teaching faculty members, in a letter dated 15 January 2024 and marked to then-chancellor Rajiv Kumar, raised concerns over the functioning of the institute and policy-making during Ranade’s two-year tenure as V-C.

In June this year, the UGC wrote to Kumar again and sought the action taken report.

Kumar then issued a show-cause notice to Ranade on 27 June this year, referring to complaints of “alleged misrepresentation” and “unacceptable conduct” while discharging his duties, said the serving faculty member.

Kumar’s term as GIPE chancellor ended in June only. After that, Debroy took over as chancellor and formed the fact-finding committee to examine the show-cause notice issued to Ranade and the complaints against him.

Despite repeated attempts, Debroy did not respond to calls and messages by ThePrint. This report will be updated if and when he responds.

Ambiguity around UGC norms

According to a former UGC chairperson, who did not want to be named, there have been exceptions before when people without ten years of experience as professors have been appointed V-Cs.

The former chairperson cited the instance of former IAS officer Najeeb Jung, appointed the V-C of Jamia Millia Islamia in 2009, and retired Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah, appointed the V-C of Aligarh Muslim University in 2012.

“It is all up to interpretation (of the UGC regulations). There have been exceptions in the past in some universities,” the former UGC chairperson told ThePrint.

A senior faculty member at GIPE said at a time when the National Education Policy 2020 allowed universities to appoint industry experts as “professors of practice”, removing a “noted economist” from the top post does not make any sense. “It is high time that UGC reviews its norms and aligns itself with NEP,” the faculty member said.

UGC chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar did not respond to requests for comments by ThePrint.

However, a senior official at the commission said, “The institute has been granted deemed university status by the UGC, and it has to follow all the rules and regulations that are in place.”

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)