JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar appointed UGC Chairman

The Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

M Jagadesh Kumar, the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), was on February 4 appointed as the Chairman of University of Grants Commission (UGC).

Kumar will head the education sector's regulatory body for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65, an official of the Ministry of Education told news agency PTI.

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. The post of the vice-chairman of the Commission is also vacant.

The Ministry is yet to announce Kumar's successor at the JNU.

From the sedition row of 2016 and lockdown of his office multiple times to then HRD Minister getting stuck for over six hours at the venue of JNU's convocation in 2019, Kumar's tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of the university has been marred by controversies.

Kumar, who was made the varsity's VC in January 2016, had his first brush with controversy a week after his appointment when students locked horns with the administration over holding of an event in the campus.

Notably, Kumar is widely regarded for his knowledge in electronic engineering and associated areas. He had 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.

With PTI inputs.