Notice to Yogendra to quit UGC creates flutter

Ansari told The Indian Express,“…affiliation to a political party is not ground for removal from UGC. So it seems a show cause notice on this ground has malafide intention….” He said Yadav was being targeted.

Yadav claimed that in October 2012 when the Aam Aadmi Party was announced,he proposed to resign and consulted the then HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s office which advised against it. The then private secretary to Sibal,V Umashanker,said,“Yes,Prof Yadav did discuss the issue and we were of the opinion that he should continue as we felt his presence added considerable value to UGC.”

The notice to Yadav on September 4 said,he “recently joined a political party as office bearer.” UGC sources refuted Yadav was targeted.

Yadav alleged problems surfaced after he requested that Delhi University’s introduction of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme be placed for consideration at the 493rd meeting of the Commission in May.

Yadav said matters came to a head in the July 31 meeting where he wanted to take up several issues and the UGC Chairman brought “a proposal,drafted in haste,to set up an Inter-University Centre on Teacher Education at JN Technical University,Kakinada”.