JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar to continue in office till successor is appointed

awaharlal Nehru University Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar was on Friday allowed to continue in the office, beyond the expiry of his term, till a successor is appointed, according to Education Ministry officials.

The Union Ministry of Education released an advertisement in October last year stating the post of a vice-chancellor is that of an academic and an administrator rolled into one.

The person, who would be chosen as the new JNU V-C, is expected to possess the highest level of competence, integrity, moral and institutional commitment, the advertisement had said.

However, the process is yet to be completed.

"M Jagadesh Kumar, whose five year term as JNU Vice Chancellor, will end on January 26, is allowed to continue in the office, notwithstanding the expiry of the tenure till his successor is appointed," said P K Singh, Under Secretary, Ministry of Education.

From the infamous sedition row of 2016 and lockdown of his office multiple times to the Union Education Minister getting stuck for over six hours at the venue of JNU's convocation in 2019, Kumar's tenure as the vice-chancellor of the university has been marred with controversies.

Kumar, who was made the VC in January 2016, had first brush with controversies just a week after his appointment when students locked horns with the administration over holding an event against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Then JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested and the controversy led to a massive protest by the students.

The students continued to be at loggerheads with the VC over penalties imposed by the university on students whose role was established in the February 9 event by an inquiry committee.

Nine months later, a student -- Najeeb Ahmad -- went missing from the university campus after a brawl with members of RSS-affiliated ABVP.