JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar appointed as new UGC Chairman
From sedition row of 2016 & lockdown of his office multiple times, Kumar"s tenure as Vice-Chancellor has been marred by controversies.
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New Delhi, February 4: JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, whose tenure has been marred by controversies, has now been appointed as Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Kumar has been appointed as chairman of the higher education regulator for a period of 5 years.
Kumar was made the Vice Chancellor in January 2016, and had his first brush with controversy as the VC only a week after his appointment when students locked horns with the administration over holding of an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The post of the UGC chairman fell vacant on December 7 after Prof D P Singh, who had taken charge in 2018, resigned upon turning 65. Kumar is currently holding the charge as acting VC of varsity after his five year term expired last year. The Ministry is yet to appoint his successor at JNU.
Right from the sedition row of 2016 and the lockdown of his office multiple times to then HRD Minister getting stuck for over 6 hours at the venue of JNU's convocation in 2019, Kumar's tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the university has been marred by controversies.
Kumar was made the Vice Chancellor in January 2016, and had his first brush with controversy as the VC only a week after his appointment when students locked horns with the administration over holding of an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
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Known for his knowledge in electronic engineering, Kumar obtained MS (EE) and PhD (EE) degrees from the Dept of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He has previously worked as Assistant professor at IIT Kharagpur and Associate Professor at IIT Delhi.