Denied extension, Hindu principal quits

The sudden resignation of Vinay Srivastava, principal of Delhi University’s (DU) Hindu College, last week has left everybody flummoxed.

The sudden resignation of Vinay Srivastava, principal of Delhi University’s (DU) Hindu College, last week has left everybody flummoxed.

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While vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh denied having any knowledge about the episode, other officials said that his resignation was linked to the ending of his lien, which has left Srivastava no option but to return to the department of anthropology.

For a principal, lien is a period of absence granted by the department to the person when he/ she takes up another assignment.

“Leave is granted to a professor only for a fixed period. So, while he was the principal, he had taken a lien from the department. It is possible that it was not extended by the university,” said Usha Rao, proctor, DU. The college authorities claimed that Srivastava first announced his resignation in a governing body meet held last week.

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In his absence, vice-principal Pradyuman Kumar, from the college’s department of physics, has taken over as the acting principal. He will continue on the post till DU appoints a new principal.

However, authorities also speculated that Srivastava ought to have clarified his position as a principal in the first year of his lien, following which he would have to forfeit his position in the department of anthropology.

“When a principal is appointed from another department, he is put on a lien — probation for a year within which he has to decide whether he wishes to forfeit his position in the department and continue as the principal. In his case, Srivastava did not do so and instead extended his lien by a year. This time may be, DU did not extend it further and he was forced to resign,” he said.