JNU VC frontrunner for IIT Delhi Director’s post

Though the five-year term of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) VC M Jagadesh Kumar ended on January 26 this year, the Education Ministry allowed him to continue as VC till it declared his successor. 

As per a report published in The Indian Express, Jagadesh Kumar is among the frontrunners for the post of the next IIT Delhi director. He was a professor of electrical engineering at IIT Delhi before being made JNU VC. So far, six names have been shortlisted for the post by a search-cum-selection committee that met on Monday. The post is currently being held by Professor V Ramgopal Rao, who had taken charge in April 2016. 

It has been learnt that the other names include IIT Bombay’s Professor Rangan Banerjee and IIT Delhi’s Professor Santosh Kapuria. Prof Banerjee holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from the same institute. He is a Forbes Marshall Chair Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering. Prof Kapuria is a Professor at the Department of Applied Mechanics at IIT Delhi. He was Director of CSIR-CLRI from April 2019 to November 2019. 

A separate meeting to pick the directors of IIT Indore and IIT Mandi was also held during the day.  Jagadesh Kumar did not respond to requests for a comment on his name being shortlisted by the panel for the IIT Delhi Director’s post. 

While he is widely regarded for his knowledge in electronic engineering and associated areas, Kumar’s tenure in JNU has been marked by constant campus unrest over issues ranging from the 2016 sedition controversy to the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed, an MSc student. 

The Ministry of Education had sought applications for the post of IIT Delhi director, which has a tenure of five years. Apart from names received through applications, the search-cum-selection panel also considered names nominated by eminent persons. 

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