Two years ago, the Prime Minister had authorised the Culture Ministry to appoint heads of important cultural institutes such as the Archaeological Survey of India and the National Museum through a search-cum-selection procedure in a bid to professionalise and revive these bodies. However, the process is set to revert to the UPSC appointment process.

Having failed to find suitable candidates or attract talented individuals to India’s top cultural institutes, the ministry is set to go back to the old method of UPSC selection procedure to fill vacant positions. A case in point is the National Museum where the search-cum-selection panel failed to find a candidate to head the museum despite trying for months.

Besides the National Museum, the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property is also headless.

“While a good start was made by appointing reputed archaeologist Dr Gautam Sengupta as the head of ASI and noted historian Prof Mushirul Hasan as Director General, National Archives, the same strategy did not work well for other institutes. With vacancies at similar institutes lingering, it only makes sense that they be filled up if need be through the UPSC selection method,” said a source.

Heads of eight major cultural institutes — ASI, National Archives of India, Anthropological Survey of India, National Museum, National Library, Kolkata, National Gallery of Modern Art, Central Reference Library, Kolkata, and National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property — were to be appointed by a search-cum-selection method, as per a Culture Ministry proposal cleared by the PM in 2009.

The idea behind the proposal moved by then Culture Minister Ambika Soni was to cut unnecessary red tape and appoint talented chiefs for cultural institutes, most of which were at the time lying headless for years. It was felt that search-cum-selection process would help move from a qualification-based selection to achievement-oriented selection and help attract the best talent in relevant field by offering suitable incentives such as market-based remuneration and long contract-based stint in office. It was expected that the new procedure would help draw a new pool of talent as many eligible candidates often did not respond to the UPSC advertisements.