THE UNIVERSITY Grants Commission (UGC), at the behest of the HRD Ministry, has set up a fact-finding committee to look into allegations made by the chancellor and vice-chancellor (V-C) of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) against each other. The three-member panel, constituted on December 28, 2018, is headed by S K Singh, former V-C of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, and includes UGC joint secretary Jitendra K Tripathi and V Vijayakumar, V-C of National Law University, Bhopal. As reported by The Indian Express on November 16, 2018, a spat between MANUU’s chancellor Firoz Bakht Ahmed and V-C Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz led to the former boycotting the university’s convocation. Ahmed had written to the President informing him of his decision to not preside over the convocation because of alleged irregularities and corruption in the varsity under Parvaiz’s watch. Parvaiz has denied all allegations and complained to the ministry against alleged interference by the chancellor in the varsity’s day-to-day administration.
