Just two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Sunday said that recently the university has been in the news for wrong reasons and demanded appointment of a “good” vice-chancellor. Sinha, who is an alumnus of BHU, was speaking at an event in Lucknow that was organised by Mahamana Malviya Mission, a social organisation formed by a group of BHU alumni. The minister, who used to be a students’ union president of BHU when he studied engineering there, expressed concerns over reports of alleged irregularities done by former V-C Lalji Singh in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff of the university. The MP from Ghazipur said that it was unfortunate that the university was being run through an ordinance even after so many years of its formation and added that the recent alumni meet of BHU-IIT in Chicago had also discussed the need to restore the lost glory and pride of BHU. Former V-C Lalji Singh’s tenure was marked by complaints of irregularities and financial bungling. He retired in August this year. Director of IIT-BHU Rajeev Sangal is at present the officiating V-C of the university.
