Chandigarh: Panjab University (PU) will have a regular vice-chancellor after a gap of 103 days, with the Chancellor and Vice-President of India, CP Radhakrishnan, appointing Prof Tankeshwar Kumar, currently vice-chancellor of Central University of Haryana, to the post for a three-year term.Speaking after his appointment was notified on Monday, Kumar said he would join the university in two to three days. Asked about his priorities for the university, he said student welfare, improving academic output, promoting job-oriented education, strengthening faculty and enhancing research would be among his focus areas.His appointment comes at a crucial time for PU, which has been without a regular vice-chancellor since July 28, when Prof Renu Cheema Vig completed her tenure after receiving a four-month extension in March. Prof Meenakshi Goyal, dean of university instruction, was subsequently entrusted with the additional charge of vice-chancellor from July 29.The notification, issued by the Secretariat of the Vice-President of India on Monday, said the appointment had been made under Section 10 of the Panjab University Act, 1947. It has been signed by Amit Khare, secretary to the Vice-President and Chancellor of Panjab University. Kumar’s three-year tenure will commence from the date he assumes charge.The appointment follows a lengthy selection process that had reached the interview stage before the outgoing VC’s tenure ended. A three-member search-cum-selection committee headed by Lt Gen (retd) Madhuri Kanitkar, vice-chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, had shortlisted 28 candidates. As many as 25 candidates appeared for interactions scheduled on July 3 and 6. However, no appointment was announced before Vig’s tenure ended, leaving the university under an interim arrangement for more than three months.Kumar has an earlier association with Panjab University, where he served as a UGC professor of physics and was associated with the Abdul Kalam Computer Centre. He subsequently served as vice-chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, from 2015 to 2021, before taking charge of Central University of Haryana in 2021.The incoming VC will inherit several long-pending issues, with the constitution of the university’s new Senate among the most pressing. Asked about the pending notification of the elected Senate fellows and the constitution of the new House, Kumar said he was aware of the matter and that the notification would be issued very soon, in the next few days.The Senate issue has remained unresolved despite the completion of elections on October 4. The previous Senate’s tenure had ended on October 31, 2024, and the university has continued without an elected governing body. The new VC will also have to address concerns relating to university governance, academic functioning and the demands of students and faculty.Kumar’s appointment marks the end of the interim leadership phase, but his immediate decisions on the Senate and other pending institutional matters will be closely watched by the university community.
