Prof M Jagadesh Kumar, the vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, is among the frontrunners for the post of chairman of the education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC).
The search and selection committee is also considering two others – Prof Nitin R Karmalkar, V-C of Pune University, and Prof Avinash Chandra Pandey, Director of Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) – for the key post, according to sources quoted by The Indian Express.
The post of the vice-chairman of the UGC is also vacant.
The vacancy for post of Chairman arose after Prof DP Singh, who had taken charge in 2018, announced his retirement at the age of 65. The appointments committee of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a call regarding the post of the UGC.
Prof Kumar is also a frontrunner for the post of Director at IIT-Delhi. His five-year-tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of JNU ended on 26 January but will continue to hold the position until a successor is found.
Kumar, who is a prominent name in the field of engineering, has faced backlash for controversies in JNU’s campus unrest involving a section of the students.
Prof Pandey was the director of Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Allahabad before joining IUAC. He has previously served as the vice-chancellor of Bundelkhand University from 2012 to 2015.
Prof Karmalkar is a well-known scientist in the field of igneous petrology. His research interests revolve around mantle petrography and geochemistry, and economic geology.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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