Rise and Fall of NIPER – Part I

Your website is committed to shedding light on the deep-seated issues crippling one of India’s premier Institutions of National Importance, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali. Once a beacon of academic excellence, NIPER’s ranking under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Education, has plummeted from No. 1 during Dr. Raghuram Rao Akkinepally’s tenure as Director to No. 9 in 2024. Dr. Akkinepally, a distinguished professional, has highlighted these systemic anomalies in a writ petition against the Chairman of the Board of Governors and the current Director. His allegations point to a troubling decline in the standards for appointing Directors and Vice-Chancellors, which many believe is at the root of the institution’s fall from grace. Shockingly, under a government widely regarded as honest and upright, political interference persists, undermining public trust. As we present Part I of this exposé, it’s time for the Modi government to act decisively and reaffirm that corruption, nepotism, and favoritism have no place in a nation striving for excellence.                                                                                                                                                – EDITOR

Appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda

Prof. Raghuram Rao Akkinepally, former Director of NIPER S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) filed a writ petition (CWP-21422 of 2022) against appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda who is presently the Director at NIPER Mohali.

NIPER Mohali is governed by the NIPER Act which came into force in the year 1998. Section 16 of the NIPER Act provides for appointment of Director in NIPER Mohali and the Director is to be appointed by the Board of Governors with prior approval of the Visitor (Hon’ble President of India).

The term of the last Board of Governors (BoG) began on 03.10.2016 and the term of the BoG is for three years as per Section 4 (4) of the NIPER Act, 1998. The term of the last Board of Governors expired on 02.10.2019.

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India passed an order dated 07.05.2019 wherein it was mentioned that an Apex Council of all NIPERs is being constituted for the purpose of dealing with common policy and co-ordination issues of NIPERs till further orders.

Despite there being no Board of Governors in existence, the Respondent-Institute issued an Advertisement no. 04/2020 advertising the post of Director in NIPER Mohali. Mr. Rajneesh Tingal was the Joint Secretary and was instrumental in the process. An order dated 25.06.2021 was issued regarding the appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda as Director, NIPER Mohali by the Chairperson, Apex Council.

The appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda as Director in NIPER Mohali is bad in the eyes of the law because the appointment to the post of Director is to be made by BoG with prior approval of the Visitor (Hon’ble President of India) but Dr. Dulal Panda was appointed as Director in NIPER Mohali when no BoG was in existence.

The Constitution of Apex Council was just to maintain uniformity of policy issues and coordination among NIPERs as there are seven NIPERs in India (Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Rae Bareli, Mohali, Hazipur, and Kolkata). Apex Council was not for the purpose of making appointments. Order dated 12.04.2019 issued during the tenure of Mr. Rajneesh Tingal as Joint Secretary mentioned that constitution of Apex Council will require amendment in the NIPER Act.

But without carrying any amendment in the NIPER Act, the appointment of Dr. Panda as the Director was made. Amendment was made later and amendment received the assent of the Hon’ble President on 18.12.2021.

BUT the appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda was made prior to that amendment in the Act. Hence the appointment of Dr. Panda is bad in the eyes of law.

Mr. Rajneesh Tingal was Joint Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, and is no more with the DoP due to his retirement. His role needs to come under scrutiny.

Moreover, Dr. Dulal Panda does not fulfil the educational qualifications and professional experience as mentioned/required under the Advertisement No. 04/2020. Educational requirements and professional experience requirements have been overlooked since the BoG was not in existence and BoG is expected to take this into consideration at the stage of scrutiny process of applications in the appointment of the Director.

Last date for submission of application forms was kept as August 17, 2020. The process of seeking applications for the post of Director, NIPER Mohali was initiated by the Chairman, Apex Council, which was against the provisions of the NIPER Act, 1998.

In application, educational requirement was: –

Ph.D. and Masters in Pharmaceuticals related areas of Science and Technology.

Dr. Dulal Panda has done Ph.D. in Bio-chemistry from Bose Institute, Kolkata in the year 1994 and a Master in Sciences. He does not possess an M.Pharm. degree. The precedents for appointments to the post of Directors in NIPERs show that in case, the candidate does not fulfil the exact qualification, the Search and Selection Committee seeks clarification from the UGC about the equivalency of qualification of such candidate. It was done in case of an earlier candidate – Dr. Swaranjit Singh Flora who possessed a Ph.D. in Chemical Toxicology from the Indian Institute of Toxicological Research, Lucknow, and an M.Sc. (Chemistry as a Masters’s Degree from the University of Kanpur and B.Sc. (with Zoology, Botany, Chemistry) from the University of Lucknow. But his appointment as Director, NIPER Mohali was objected to by two board members. Hence, he was then declared ineligible.

In the minutes of 59th Meeting of BoG dated 23.03.2013, the following was mentioned: –

“Prof. Vinod Kumar Dixit remarked that he will not agree to the recommendations of the search-cum-selection committee, if the recommended candidate is from the non-Pharmaceutical Sciences field. The remarks of Dr. Vinod Kumar Dixit were supported by Sh. Lalit Kumar Jain., another member of BoG”.

All the regular directors of NIPER Mohali since the inception of the Institute had M.Pharm. and Ph.D. degree in Pharmacy.

It may be noted that only Dr. K. K. Bhutani had M.Sc. but he was not appointed as regular director and held the charge as Officiating Director of NIPER Mohali.

Key governing body of Pharmacy area is ‘The Pharmacy Council of India’ (PCI) and Section 3 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948 specifies the subjects from the core pharmacy area as evident from the composition of the Central Council: –

3. Constitution and Composition of Central Council: The Central Government shall, as soon as may be, constitute a Central Council consisting of the following: –

(a) Six members, among whom there shall be at least one teacher of each of the subjects, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacy, pharmacology and pharmacognosy elected by the UGC from among the persons on the teaching staff of an Indian University or a College affiliated thereto which grants a degree or diploma in pharmacy.

Dr. Panda does not possess an M.Pharm. and holds an M.Sc. and has no background in the above-mentioned subjects which are core subjects of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Professional experience of Dr. Dulal Panda is with the Department of Bio-sciences and Bio-engineering in various capacities in IIT-Bombay. There is not even a single department in NIPER S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) that offers Biosciences and Bioengineering.

Office Order regarding the appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda as Director, NIPER Mohali was issued by the Officiating Registrar, Mr. Jitender Kumar Chandel on 28.07.2021. Appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda was made subject to the outcome of CWP No. 36534 of 2019 which has been filed by Prof. Raghuram Rao Akkinepally. Mr. Jitender Kumar Chandel is the person who was suspended by Prof. Rao as there were serious charges against him. Without conducting inquiry against him and setting aside his charge sheet, Mr. Jitender Kumar Chandel has been retained as Deputy Registrar (F&A) by Dr. Dulal Panda.

The process of seeking applications for the post of the Director, NIPER Mohali, constitution of selection panel and forwarding the recommendations of the Selection Panel have been executed through the Chairman, Apex Council where as there was no statutory provision in the NIPER Act, regarding constitution or scope of such Apex Council.

Gross violation of the NIPER Recruitment Rules is there as the Rule 7 of the Recruitment Rules provide that the Director shall be appointed by the Board with the prior approval of the Visitor out of a panel of not less than three persons drawn by the Search Committee and the search committee will consist of two nominees of the Board. Since the tenure of the BoG was from 03.10.2016 to 02.10.2019 and the at the time of appointment of Dr. Dulal Panda, there was no BoG in existence, so it is impossible to include “two members of the Board” who were required to form part of the search committee.

Hence, the appointment of Dr. Panda is illegal and against the NIPER Act and Recruitment Rules.

Apex Council started making appointments to the post of Director and has assumed the role of BoG, without any legal sanctity. Hence, there is gross violation of Section 16 of the NIPER Act, 1998. The process of seeking applications in the absence of BoG is against the provisions of NIPER Act and is also against all the precedents for the appointment of Director, NIPER Mohali.

In an earlier case of Dr. Swaranjit Singh Flora, the Search-cum-Selection Committee had recommended in 59th BoG that the Chairman, BoG has to write to the Chairman, UGC/Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development with regards to equivalence and in 60th meeting of BoG, it was conveyed that Dr. Flora was not eligible due to non-fulfilment of conditions related to equivalence. Dr. Swaranjit Singh Flora was not appointed as the Director, NIPER Mohali. Interestingly later, Dr. Flora was appointed as Director, NIPER Rae Bareli. It was a surprise as Dr. Flora was ineligible in one NIPER (NIPER Mohali) and became eligible for another NIPER (NIPER Rae Bareli) when all NIPERs are governed by the same NIPER Act, 1998. At that time, NIPER had the Search-cum-Selection Committee comprising two members/experts from Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Through gross violations of NIPER Act, 1998 and without fulfilling educational requirements, Dr. Panda joined NIPER Mohali on 15.07.2021 for a period of five years, i.e., up to 14.07.2026 by RETAINING LIEN for 5 years. Lien was denied to Prof. Raghuram Rao Akkinepally.

In the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana, either counsel of Union of India, or of NIPER Mohali or of Dr. Dulal Panda, will seek the time under one or other pretext and the case gets adjourned.

Now, the next hearing is on 24.03.2025. The tenure of Dr. Panda is till 14.07.2026 so he has already completed 3 ½ years even when he does not possess educational requirements and his appointment was made in the absence of the Board of Governors.

Last BoG was constituted on November 2, 2022 (for three years till November 1, 2025) whereas Dr. Panda joined on 15.07.2021 which clearly shows that he joined after the expiry of the previous BoG and much before the formation of the new BoG. Moreover, with the death of Dr. Girish Sahni in August 2024 who was the Chairperson of the BoG, Dr. Dulal Panda has been designated as the Chairperson of the BoG too when he even does not fulfill the qualifications and experience as the Director of the Institute.  (to be concluded)