Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday appointed Professor Umesh Rai from the University of Delhi as the new Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu University (JU).
“In exercise of powers vested in me under Section 12 of the Kashmir and Jammu Universities Act, 1969, I, Manoj Sinha, hereby appoint Professor Umesh Rai, Professor, Department of Zoology, Delhi University as Vice Chancellor of the University of Jammu for a period of three years with effect from the date he takes over the charge,” a communication issued by the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat said this evening.
A copy of the communication has been sent to Chief Secretary J&K, Principal Secretary to Government Higher Education Department J&K, Vice Chancellor University of Delhi, Registrar University of Jammu and Professor Rai for information and necessary action.
Professor Rai holds a PhD in Zoology from Banaras Hindu University (1996) and has done his MSc in Zoology from Gorakhpur University (1980). He has been formerly Director of South Campus, University of Delhi (2011 to 2016) and Head Department of Zoology University Delhi (January 2020 till date).
He has supervised 13 PhD scholars and has been an author of several publications, several of them in reputed national and international journals.
Prof Rai’s appointment comes a little over two months after the LG, in the capacity of being Chancellor of J&K Universities, constituted a search committee to find a new vice-chancellor for JU.
The JU VC Search Committee was headed by Prof Arun Kumar Grover, former VC Panjab University Chandigarh and its members included Prof Anik Kumar Tyagi, VC Nagaland University and Prof Pardesi Lal, former VC Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Delhi.
Alongside JU, the search committee was also constituted in early December 2021 to find the new VC for Kashmir University (KU), following expiry of the three year tenures of incumbent KU VC Prof Talat Ahmad and incumbent JU VC Prof Manoj Dhar.
Prof Ahmad and Prof Dhar were initially appointed for a period of five years but the term was reduced to three years under the relevant provisions of the J&K Reorganization Act which came into vogue after the Centre scrapped J&K’s special status in August 2019.
Academics at Kashmir University have already urged the Chancellor’s office and Search Committee to expedite the process of short listing and interaction for the new VC and submit the final panel to the Chancellor to enable the new VC to assume the office at the earliest.