Retd judge who allowed puja in Gyanvapi cellar made university ombudsman
The university’s vice chancellor Himanshu Shekhar Jha has made the appointment for a period of three years.
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, 2024, has been appointed as ombudsman of Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow.
The university’s vice chancellor Himanshu Shekhar Jha has made the appointment for a period of three years. On Wednesday, Vishwesh visited the university and exchanged pleasantries with the vice chancellor.
“It was a courtesy meeting. Vishwesh came to the university and we met for a while to discuss certain things,” Jha said. The University Grants Commission has had made it mandatory for every university to appoint an ombudsperson for redressal of student grievances of the university and colleges or institutions affiliated to them. The ombudsperson will have to be a retired vice chancellor or a retired professor with 10 years of experience, or a former district judge.
Vishwesh is originally from Haridwar. Born on January 7, 1964, he did B.Sc in 1981, LLB in 1984 and LLM in 1986. His judicial service began on June 20, 1990 and his first posting was as munsif magistrate in Kotdwar in the present-day Uttarakhand, which was then part of undivided Uttar Pradesh.
In 1991, he was transferred to Saharanpur. After this, he became the judicial magistrate of Dehradun. Recently, he retired from the district court of Varanasi.