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‘People can analyse my judgements...focus now on new role’
Retired Varanasi district judge, Ajay Krishna Vishwesh, expresses happiness on being appointed as the first ombudsman of Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University
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LUCKNOW Retired Varanasi district judge, Ajay Krishna Vishwesh, who had ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi complex last year and also gave the ruling allowing puja at the Vyas tehkhana (Gyanvapi southern cellar) on his last day in office on January 31, expressed happiness on being appointed as the first ombudsman of Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow (DSMNRU). Excerpts of his interview:
Your initial reaction on your appointment as the first ombudsman of DSMNRU?
It has always been an honour to serve people in judicial capacity. My judicial service began on June 20, 1990, and my first posting was as munsif magistrate in Kotdwar in the present-day Uttarakhand, which was then part of undivided Uttar Pradesh. In 1991, I was transferred to Saharanpur. After this, I became the judicial magistrate of Dehradun. For nearly two and a half years, I was posted as the district judge in the district court of Varanasi and from there I retired.
How do you look at your new role and responsibilities?
I am pleased that the university thought me worthy of this post. Under the UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023, every university has to appoint an ombudsperson for redressal of students’ grievances of the university/colleges/institutions affiliated to them. My role and responsibilities will be to address students’ grievances, if any that have not been addressed.
How do you look at this job at hand?
As you know that DSMNRU is the first university of its kind, which provides accessible and quality higher education to differently-abled students, in a completely barrier-free environment.
The mandate is primarily to serve differently-abled segments of society for which a horizontal reservation of 50% seats in all courses of the university has been provided, in addition to the normal reservation policy. Considering these, it will be a new challenge to create an environment where every student feels that he/she is unique and important.
How do you assess your last few months in the office of district judge of Varanasi?
We are not supposed to speak on judicial matters. Whatever judgements I have given are all in public domain. Anyone can access them and analyse. Speaking to media on judicial matters that I dealt with in the capacity of district judge will not be a great thing.
You recently visited the university and met with the V-C?
On February 28, I visited the university and met vice-chancellor Himanshu Shekhar Jha at his office, a day after I was appointed as university’s first ombudsman. Soon, I will be available to students at the university. If they have any major problem that has not been addressed by the university, they may come to my office and efforts will be made to address their genuine problems.
