Delhi University has called an emergency meeting of its Executive Council (EC) on Tuesday, following the President’s directive to recommend a replacement for former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan in the VC search panel, but the matter has surprisingly not been listed on the agenda.
The HRD Ministry had last week objected to the nomination of Kasturirangan to the selection panel for the next VC considering his earlier post as the honorary professor to create conflict of interest. While the ministry had recommended to President Pranab Mukherjee to send current VC Dinesh Singh on forced leave, the Visitor had asked the varsity to convene a meeting and nominate a replacement for Kasturirangan.
A few members of the EC, the varsity’s apex body, have written to Singh objecting to the absence of the issue on the meeting agenda. “To our astonishment, the agenda does not list Constitution of the Search Committee, which is a matter that the university needs to take up with the utmost urgency, as your term finishes in just two weeks. We express our dismay that in the agenda papers, which run into 50 pages apart from the Annexures, this important item is not listed,” said one of the EC member Abha Dev Habib. She further added, “The VC has claimed that Kasturirangan’s appointment was an ‘oversight’. The former ISRO chief was also on the panel which selected Singh as the Vice Chancellor. Then he was made honorary professor with Singh’s approval. How can this information be an oversight, it is nothing but a calculated move.”