Jawaharlal Nehru University’s executive council in a meeting on Monday appointed Chintamani Mohapatra, a professor at the School of International Studies, as the new rector of the varsity.
Terming the appointment as strictly routine, JNU registrar Bupinder Zutshi said, “While Prof. Mohapatra has been appointed the rector, Prof. Prasanjit Sen, who was currently holding the position, has been granted an extension of one month to facilitate the transition phase.” The executive council also approved setting up of a three-member search committee for the new registrar.
“A three-member search committee was formed today (Monday) to finalise the appointment of the next registrar. The vacancies for the post were advertised and applications have already been received,” he said.
Prof. Zutshi, who is the current registrar, is due to retire from this position on March 31, but will continue to be a professor in the varsity.
The decisions taken in the meeting have left a section of students and teachers disappointed as they have been demanding the registrar’s removal over handling of the current controversy in the university.
“For the past one week, students and teachers have been demanding the removal of the registrar, but the administration has not paid any heed to our demands. This shows that there is some kind of larger conspiracy by the administration to act against the students,” said a member of JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA).
A sit-in protest was also organised by the varsity students outside the administration block of the university for the same demand. “We wanted the vice-chancellor (M. Jagadesh Kumar) to take action against the registrar for misguiding him over handling of the February 9 incident,” said JNU Students’ Union vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora.
The JNU is caught in a row over an event on the campus to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. The JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar is in judicial custody and two varsity students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, are in police custody, all charged with sedition.
