SHILLONG, July 23: President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the Visitor to central universities, has approved the appointment of Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla as the vice chancellor of the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
A notification issued by Vijay Kumar, Under Secretary to the Government of India, said that “Prof. Shukla of GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, has been appointed as the VC of NEHU for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office, or until he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier”.
Besides NEHU, the President has also approved appointment of vice chancellors in 11 other central varsities, the Union Ministry of Education said on Friday.
The newly appointed vice chancellors include Tankeshwar Kumar (Central University of Haryana), Prakash Bansal (Central University of Himachal Pradesh), Sanjeev Jain (Central University of Jammu), Kshitij Bhusan Das (Central University of Jharkhand), Battu Satyanarayana (Central University of Karnataka), Muthukalingan Krishnan (Central University of Tamil Nadu), Basuthkar J Rao (Central University of Hyderabad), Kameshwar Nath Singh (Central University of South Bihar), Alok Kumar Chakrawal (Guru Ghasidas University in Bilaspur), Syed Ainul Hasan (Maulana Azad National Urdu University) and Lokender Singh (Manipur University).
The present NEHU VC, Prof SK Srivastava’s term ended in September 2020 but he was made to carry on as the interim head pending the appointment.
Earlier, five names were empanelled for the post of NEHU VC. Besides Prof. Shukla, there other names shortlisted were Prof. Sherwin May Sungoh (NEHU), Prof. Santishree Pandit (Pune University), Prof. Sushil Kumar Tomar (Punjab University) and Prof. Kshiti Bhusan Das (Pro VC, IGNOU Utkal University).
However, the appointment of the new NEHU VC has not gone down well with pressure groups in the state who have accused the Centre of ignoring the sentiments of the people.
KSU president, Lambokstar Marngar termed it as a big disappointment, saying that they had anticipated someone from the state being given the opportunity to head NEHU.
“Our request has not entertained and we consider it is an insult to the indigenous people of the state,” Marngar said.
Echoing similar views, Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) said the appointment reflects the anti-tribal attitude of the Union government.
“For the oldest Central University in the Tribal Hill regions of India, it is imperative that local indigenous talent is acknowledged and nurtured. NEHU in its long history has had only three tribal vice chancellors and out of the three only one from Meghalaya, namely Dr. B. Pakem,” TUR said.
TUR also said that all the central institutions in Meghalaya should be brought under the state reservation policy.
