Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 10: In a significant development, the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) Jammu is likely to get new Vice-Chancellor in next few days as the incumbent is being shown door more than three years ahead of completion of his tenure.
The incumbent Dr Dilip Kumar Arora, who took over as the Vice-Chancellor of SKUAST-Jammu in May 2012 for a tenure of five years, is learnt to have submitted his resignation to the Governor N N Vohra, who is also Chancellor of the University, highly placed sources informed the Excelsior.
Consequent upon resignation of the incumbent, sources disclosed that the Governor House has constituted a Search Committee for the new Vice-Chancellor besides inviting applications from aspirants for the top post.
The four-member Search Committee is headed by Dr S S Bloeria, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University Jammu, and comprises of B R Sharma, Principal Secretary Planning and Development; I Aippan, Director General of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Vice-Chairman of University Grant Commission (UGC).
According to the sources, name of the new Vice-Chancellor is likely to be finalized very soon as January 21, 2014 is the last date for applying for the post.
As per a notification, issued by the Governor House on January 7 and sent to all Vice-Chancellors of the Agriculture Universities across India for recommending the suitable candidates, the eligible aspirants can apply for the top post by January 21, 2014 up to 5 pm.
The Search Committee will shortlist the candidates according to their experience as well other qualifications and then send a panel of probably three-four names to the Governor N N Vohra for final selection as the Vice-Chancellor.
Dr D K Arora, who has still more than three years of his tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of SKUAST-Jammu, is learnt to have submitted his resignation to the Governor on health grounds.
However, sources claimed that health grounds are not the actual reason for the unceremonious exit of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor but the permission seeking prosecution of Dr Arora for the charges established against him during his previous tenure as Director of the ICAR’s National Bureau of Agriculturaly Important Micro-organism, Mahu (Utter Pradesh).
There were charges of misuse of official position by Dr Arora as the Director and now the investigating agencies have sought permission for his prosecution, sources said adding that to avoid any embarrassment to the institution, the Vice-Chancellor was directed to submit his resignation and exit the office.
Though there was no official word over all these development, sources said that Dr Arora was not attending his office in the university for the last two weeks.
Prior to these developments, he was scheduled to serve the SKUAST Jammu as Vice-Chancellor till May 15, 2017.
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