Professor Najma Akhtar appointed Jamia Millia’s first woman vice-chancellor

The HRD ministry had earlier sought the election commission’s permission for going ahead with the process of appointment of some vice chancellors.

Professor Najma Akhtar was appointed as the first woman vice -chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia on Thursday, after the Union HRD ministry received the President’s nod regarding the same.

File photo of Jamia Millia Islamia University. (Photo/PTI)

Akhtar, a topper from Aligarh Muslim University, has completed her PhD from Kurukshetra University and was earlier heading the department of training and capacity building at Delhi’s National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration.

According to a senior HRD ministry official, the ministry had sought the nod of the President for appointment of vice chancellors for Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Motihari in Bihar and Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, Maharashtra, apart from Jamia Millia Islamia.

“Akhtar would be the first woman V-C of Jamia Millia Islamia. Prof Sanjiv Sharma, who was earlier working at the Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut, has been appointed as the vice chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi Central University. Prof Rajneesh Kumar Shukla has been appointed as the vice chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya,” a senior official said.

The HRD ministry had earlier sought the election commission’s permission for going ahead with the process of appointment of some vice chancellors.

According to another official, since the process had been initiated much before the model code of conduct, the ministry has asked the commission to allow it to continue with the process of appointment of vice chancellors.

After receiving the election commission’s nod, the ministry had forwarded the names to the President for his approval.

According to an official, the ministry has also sought the election commission’s nod to fill up over 6,000 teaching posts vacant in the country’s central varsities even as the next academic session is about to commence.The nod of the commission in this regard is awaited.