Anil Wilson, the erstwhile principal of St. Stephan’s college was appointed vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University last year. Instead of resigning his job, he took leave for three years from the college to complete his tenure as the vice-chancellor.

The intention was to rejoin his college job once again after the tenure at the university was over. He, therefore, did not relinquish the official residence allotted to him by the college. He also reportedly suggested that vice-principal Jacob Cherian could manage things as the officiating principal during his absence.

Since the absence of three years was too long to keep the college headless, the chairman of the governing body of the college or the supreme council, Karam Masih, thought that “an absent principal would do damage to the college.” He, therefore, appointed Rev Valson Thampu as officer-on-special duty of the college and asked Anil Wilson to resign.

Anil Wilson resigned but said, “I resigned because I understood that this would be good for the college. But what then chairman Bishop Karam Masih did not tell me was that he would appoint Thampu as OSD. They asked me to resign so they could appoint a full-fledged principal which they never did."

According to Anil Wilson, the appointment of Thampu as OSD was against the college constitution and DU norms because Thampu was working as the head of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions before being inducted as the OSD of the college. Moreover, he did not possess the mandatory doctoral degree for the post of the principal.

His appointment, therefore, created a furor of protest among the college faculty and some members of the supreme council. Thampu was asked to resign from his post as the chairman of the NCMEI, but he refused to oblige. When the controversy intensified, he relented and gave up his post at the NCMEI.

Although both Wilson and Thampu resigned, an irritant still remained in that Wilson refused to vacate the principal’s official residence as demanded by Thampu.

Although a search for the next principal of the college has been initiated, the controversy in one of the most respected educational institutions in the country will take time to fade.