Yogesh Tyagi, Dean and Professor, Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University. (Express Photo)President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Yogesh Tyagi, dean of the law faculty at South Asian University (SAU), as the new Vice Chancellor of Delhi University (DU) Monday.
Unlike the appointment of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor, the President — who is the Visitor of all central universities — went with HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s recommendation for the top job at DU, said sources.
Other contenders for the post were Professor R N K Bamezai of JNU, Bidyut Chakrabarty of DU and UPSC member Hemchandra Gupta.
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According to sources in Rashtrapati Bhawan, Chakrabarty lost out on the opportunity because of a controversial past.
He had faced allegations of sexual harassment following which DU’s Executive Council barred him from holding any position of responsibility in the Political Science department for a few years.
Gupta’s extremely short stint (three months) as vice chancellor of CCS University in Meerut weakened his chances of securing the job. Bamezai and Tyagi were front-runners for the post.
The post of the vice chancellor at DU has been vacant ever since Dinesh Singh completed his tenure in November 2015.
The last lap of his tenure was marred with controversies, with the University Grants Commission directing the university to withdraw its four-year undergraduate programme that was rolled out with much fanfare.
Professor Sudhish Pachauri was appointed as the interim vice chancellor after Singh.
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