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HRD ministry changes stand on DU vice-chancellor’s leave
The vice-chancellor is set to retire later this month on October 28.
The Union human resources development ministry has withdrawn its request made to the President recommending that Delhi University vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh go on forced leave, sources said. The vice-chancellor is set to retire later this month on October 28.
The vice chancellor is said to have endorsed the name of former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan in the selection panel for the next V-C even as he continues to remain an honorary professor and hence giving rise to conflict of interest.
Reacting to the latest development, Singh said he had no information about the ministry’s communication to Rashtrapati Bhavan. “I do not know anything about the issue and the communication between the ministry and Rashtrapati Bhawan, so I would not want to comment on it,” he said.
The ministry officials as well as the spokesperson declined to comment on the developments. However, sources said the ministry had to withdraw the request sent to the President (visitor to central universities) apparently as Rashtrapati Bhavan was not inclined to take any action with barely few weeks remaining for his retirement.
The VC and the ministry have been at loggerheads ever since the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) row. Though no action was initiated against him, following his reply, Singh was dropped from a delegation accompanying the President to Israel and Jordan later this week because the ministry felt that the MoUs signed by him may not hold much significance.
Asked about Kasturirangan, sources said the university statute did not allow a professor associated with the institution being nominated into the selection panel for the appointment of the new V-C.
Singh dismissed the contention that Kasturirangan’s name was deliberately put up to give him more time to be in office. “I am not willing to stay even a day beyond October 28,” he said.
“The VC has not only misled the University’s Executive Council but also the Visitor and the MHRD with this brazen attempt to manipulate the constitution of the search committee,” said Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA).
