IGNOU

ItlINUfEg Or .|[BE FORl[y-FIFrn I{EEIINGOF rrHE XNDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPENTEBRUARY 6, 1996e AT 11OO XOURS ATICNOU CAt{pUA, UAIDAN CARHI, N8r D8LllI

OF THE BOARD OF ITAIIA6EUENTUNIVERSITY HEI.D ON TUESDAY,CONTERENCE ROOU, EIJOCX - I,110 068.

The following were present:1- Prof. R.G. Takware, vice-chancelror, chairman/'2. Prof . Mihir Bhattacharva,/3. Shri. N.v.K. Murthy,-- '4. Prof . S.K. Verma5. Ms. Nirmala Deshpande6. Dr. S.K. Gandhe .-7. Prof. B,S. Sharma8. prof. pandav Nayak{9. Prof . Kapil Xurnlr /

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Dr. Tilak R. Kern, Registrar Secretary.shri. p.R. Dasguptal shri Bhaskar Gh,ose, shri c.K. Birla, shriKapll sibar and prof prabhar parnaik ;";il ;;t arrend theneetingProf. Rakesh Khurana and prof. Janardan Jha, pro_vice_chancellors, and Shri c.R. pilIai, Directoi rpranning &Development) att.endeid the rneeting as speciar invitees.

rlrshri K.J. s. prasada luo, Dy. Registru, '''lGo.rernance) , waspresent to assist the BoardThe following items were considered:

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ITEI'{ NO. 1

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45 . L.2

TO CONFIRM T$E I.TINUTES OF THE FORTY-FOURTH UEETINGOF TTIE BOARD OF ITANAGEI'TENT HELD ON DECEMBER 2?,1995 AND TO NOTE TIIE ACTION TAKEN THEREON.when the item on confirmation of the Minutes wastaken up, a view was expressed that full detairsfgom the Central ylgilance Commission ;;y -;;pP:"ined. so thqr imir.ication.s -"niv- r" studiedDerore putting the decision vide nesolution No. BM44.8.1 into operation.The Board $/as informed of some. minor correctiohsin the dates of joining and confirmation ofteachers recorded in the uir,"i". of the

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Establishrnent Committee which were considered bythe Board under Item No.17. The Board took onrecord the corrected dates in respect of'thefollowing two persons as under:

Date of' Joininq Conf irrnation

L. Sh Ashish Aggarwal 4-1-1--1993 4-LL-L994

2. Dr Ruchika Kuba 3 1-08-1994

BM 45.1.3l

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ITE}I NO. 2

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With the above observation, thethe minutes of its 44th Meeting27, 1995. The Board also notedon the minutes.

3 t_-08-l_995 .

Board confirmedheld on Decemberthe action taken

TO CONSTDER THE PROJECT FOR I,I.A88 EDUCATION INCOUPUTERS - OPEN LEJARNING APPROACE.

It was noted that this itern came up for discussionin the last rneeting held on December 27, 1995, andthe Board, while approving the proposal inprinciple, sought certain clarifications. Thematter lras considered with reference to theclarifications given in the Agenda Note. In thediscussion that followed, the following views wereexpressed:

i) Since the Project proposal envisagessubstantial investment, a detailed study ofthe financial aspects, including a forecastof financial budgeting for the next 4-5years, would be necessary.

ii) While noting that the 'proposal is inconsonance with the ob j ecti'ves of theUniversity, the suggestion made in the lastmeeting about undertaking a rself-st.udy, bythe University in the decennial year may beappropriate.

iii) The Project envisages an innovative approachin offering cornputer: programmes and ii IGNoUfails to take step in this directionexpeditiously, private and iqternationaldistance education institutions'inay take theli:ad in of f ering such programmes.

iv) A built-in monitoring mechanism needs to.bedeveJ-oped so as to ensure proper checks inthe implementation of the programmes. Theproposed Steering Committee may additionally

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BM 45.2.3

'v)

vi)

vii)

viii)

Afterthat:

i)

ii)

be given this resPonsibilitY.

The fee structure should be such thatcourses on avtareness may be charqed lesserrates and those for skill acquisition withemployment potential higher rates.

Since the proposal was originally mootedthrough the Extension Council, the roles ofthe School vis-a-vis the Extension Centreneeds to be spelt out.

The question whether the courses, apart fromnnglish, should be offered in Hindi andother regional languages also wasconsidered. It htas clarifi.ed that to beginwith the courses will be offered only inEnglish and in two years' time some of thecourses may be on offer in Hindi.

The locatj"on of, centres in the pilot projectmay have a proper geographical mixincluding North-East. It waS clarified thatsince the proposa! envisages covering thewhol.e cguntry in its f uIl potential, theproposal mooted as a pilot project withthree c'entres may be accePted.

a detailed discussion, the Board resolved

the launching of the pilot project at threecentres, namely, Delhi, Dehradun and Pune beapproved;

the seed money of Rs.40 Lakhs be earmarkedvrhich may be released in instalments as perrequirement;

the Vice-Chancel"lor be authorized toappoint a Steering Committee under hischairmanship consisting of around 10 personswith experts/professionals drawn from the

iii )

related -f ie lds ; in addition, tworepresentatives of the Board, namely, ProfB.s. Sharma and Prof Mihir Bhattacharya bemembers of the above Committeel

iv) the Steering Committee shall be responsiblefor the implementation and monitoring of thepilot project and may appoint, 'whereconsidered necessary, sub-cornmittees toadvise it on any matterl and

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!h" Steering Committee shall keep the Boardinformed of the progress of the pilotProject through periodic reports.

TO REPORT ON THE REPRESENTA'II'ION SUBI'IITTED TO THEEDUCATTON I{TNTGTER By rHE ,rorNT FORUM oF rcNouTEACHING AND NON-TEACHING sTAFF.

The vice-chancerror briefly explained that theMHRD desired the Board to cbnsider certainallegations made in the Memorandum subnitted bythe Joint Action Forum of the Teaching and Nonlteaching staff of the University to lh-e Ministerfor Human Resour_ce Developnent. The *ollowing arethe five specific issuei on which the Boirdrsattention was drawn:1. Appointment of pro Vice-Chancel_l_or2. Appointment of Director (DEC)3. Mj-suse of University Land4. Non-maintenance of Stock Registers5. Wasteful Expendi-tureThere was a free and frank discussionissues and thb decisions/observationson each itern is indicated below:

(1) Appointment of pro Vice-Chancel1or (STRIDE)The Board noted that the comments of theuniversity on the appointment ot pro Vice-chancellor (srRrDE) creirly indicate the factualposition- rt was also noted that the Board hadreviewed the matter in subsequent rneetings ildthat a statute providing ror- the positfon;iExecut,ive directors has been rorinur_ated andsubnitted to the Visitor for his approval. Doubtswere expressed on the advisability ofredesignating pvc (srRrDE) as Executive Dirlctor.Taking_ a, p{agnatic view with rerated issues inioconsideration, the Board decided that the provice-chancellor (srRrDE) be treated as having neenappointed under statute 3 in reversal of itsearlierl decision. The three-year tenurelnnointment of prof ;:N. Koul- as pro Vice-chancellor under the provisions of statute 3 wourdbe deemed to have been come into effect from 12-1-1995 when the present Vice-chancerror took overoffice. rt was,. however, decided th;i before theabove proposar is finarry . impremented, the Vice-chancellor m.y obtain regat o-pinion on the matter

v)

rTEM NO. 3

BM 45.3.1

BM 45.3.2l

(sTRrDE)

on the aboveof the Board

\so as t,o avoid any regat -compfications in ruture.l

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(2) Ilppolntmont of Dirootor (DnC)

The Board relteratecl its stand that theappoi.ntment of Directors is covered under theprovr,sr-ons of Statute 4 . S ince the presentappointrnent of Dr v. S. Prasad was made by theBoard as per the provisions of Statute 4 ' theissue of violation of any Statute in this casedoes not arise.(3) Miguse of University land

The Board took note of the fact that it had agreedto the setting up of the commonweaLth Educat.ionalMedia Centre for Asia (CEMCA) at IGNOU and hadagreed'to provi-de office accommodation and certainother services. Subsequently the CEMCA requestedthe University for providing residentialaccommodation to four of its senior officers. TheUniversity, having considered the matt,er in theappropriale forurns, namel!r:,the Works committeeand the Board of Management, has'decided to rentout to cEMcA four Type v quarters. The spiritbehind such a decision has to be seen in thecontext of agreed ' ,,.collaboration with aninternati.onal organisation, namely, theCommonwealth . of .Learning and the advantages ofCEMCA having its location at IGNOU. Such agesture, it was felt, would further strengthen thecollaborative spirit between both theorganisations. Therefore, the allegation that thisarrangement involves violation of, the terms andconditions of the land acquisition deed, the Boardnoted, has no basis.(4) Non-rraintenance of Stock Registers

The Board expressed serious concern in the slowprogress being made in the matter ofreconciliation of stock registers with the stock.The Board desired that the Vice-Chancellor may setup a special squad to complete the stockverification and reconciliation expeditiously. TheBoard further desired t.hat the Vice-Chancellor mayreport to the Board in the next meeting the stepsinitiated for expediting the work and a completibnrepdrt as soon ai the work is completed.

",(5 ) I{astef ul expenditureThe Board. was inforrned that the residences of theVice-Chancellor and Pro Vice=Chancellors have beenfurnished as per the provisions in the Statutes.While it is true that no norms have been laid down

for, such furnishing, the undertying factorbehindsuch,'furnishings iJ tnat the appointments of Vice-'ChAnC€IIor anrl Pro Vice-Chancellors being tenureappointments ) tfre houses slrould be so f urnlshed 'astt: have the facilities required for immediateoccupation. It nay be noted that the furnishingsand -equiprnents provided in these residenc€s ' d'r€the plroperty or the UniVersity.. While asuggeition, was made that norms be laid for suchfurnishlngs, it was generally agreed that thescale of furnishing of these residences be left tothe discretion of the Vice-Chancellor.i,l

ITEII NO. {

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ITE}I NO. i5

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ITEIT NO. 6

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TO CONSIDER THE NOUINATION OFI,TEI{BERS ON THE SEARCII COMMITTEE FOREXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.

ONE OF ITSTHE POAT OFt

The Board authorizcd thc Vice-Chancellor tonominater oD its behalf , a tnember of the Board ofManagement on the Search Commit'tee for the post ofExecutive Director.

TO CONSIDER AN AI{ENDT,IENT TO THE ORDINANCECAREER ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHERS.

The item was withdrawn.

TO CONSIDER THE COI{PUTER PURCHASE tr'RO}! CMC.

ON

The Vice-Chancellor explained in brief .the salientfeatures proposed in the Agenda Note. While thematter was under discussion, a view was expressedthat since purchase of expensive equipment isinvolved whether alt the formalities stipulated inthe 'Financial Code have been f ol lowed . It wasexplained that the Computer MaintenanceCorporation (CMc) has been chosen on therecommendation of a Committee which analysed nineshort-Iisted companies out of the 30 companieswhich bade for providing consultancy in the matterof computerized tasks. The cMc, which is a PublicSector Undertaking, would act as an expert agencyfor system integration and conputerisation ofUniversity and would acquire necessary computersy6tems: f or the purpo,so.

The Board approved the proposal and noted that thetotal value of the order would be in the range bfRs.67 Lakh.