Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, a member of the 2018 search committee which was given the task of looking for candidates to be appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the Jamia Millia University in Delhi has written to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, requesting him to recall the appointment of Dr. Najma Akhtar who currently hold the VC position at the university, reported The Indian Express. The President had approved her appointment on April 11, 2019.

In his letter to the President dated March 8, Ramaswamy claimed that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had denied vigilance clearance to Akhtar in an office memo dated January 10, 2019.

Though his letter did not clearly state what objection the CVC had or why it denied vigilance clearance to Akhtar, it quoted newspaper reports which had claimed that the CVC opposed the recommendation of Akhtar for any post-retirement assignment or re-employment in any organization, institution or university under the ambit of the Human Resource Development ministry.

Ramaswamy’s letter also stated that three candidates were recommended to the President after the search committee chose from 13 shortlisted candidates from 107 applicants. His letter read, “After having personally interacted with the 13 shortlisted candidates on November 28, 2018, a panel of three names was recommended to you (the President), subject, of course, to vigilance clearance.”

In the letter he added, “This is a grave matter, since in the process of arriving at a short-list, otherwise meritorious candidates were passed over by the committee on account of even the remotest vigilance clearance issues.”

Besides Ramaswamy, the search committee consisted of Professor DP Singh and retired Justice MSA Siddiqui.

Speaking about how the President had earlier recalled the appointment of the VCs of the Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University and Manipur University, Ramaswamy wrote, “In past few months, you have shown exemplary leadership as Visitor of the Central Universities by recalling the Vice Chancellors of two Central Universities when their credentials were in question.”

“The OM of the CVC quoted above is very strong in its indictment, and under these circumstances, I am writing to request that the same caution be exercised in the case of the Jamia Millia Islamia and appropriate remedial action be taken,” the letter added.

On April 11, 2019, Najma Akhtar became the first woman Vice Chancellor of the JMIU.. She had also raised her voice against the police brutalities on Jamia students on December 15 last year during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests. She had posted a video message criticizing the Delhi Police’s actions and also held a press conference reiterating that the police had entered the Jamia campus without permission and their actions were condemnable. She had then said, “I am hurt by the way my students were treated. I want to let my students know that they are not alone in this fight. I am with them. I will take this matter forward as long it’s possible.”

Before Ramaswamy’s letter came to the fore, the Delhi High Court was already hearing a plea challenging Akhtar’s appointment as the VC of JMIU currently seized of in court. Justice AK Chawla issued notice on a plea filed by Jamia alumnus M Ehtesham-ul-Haque. Haque’s petition read, “The entire process culminating into the impugned appointment of Dr. Najma Akhtar (Respondent No.3), is a colourable exercise of power and in flagrant violation and total non-compliance of the statutory provisions of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988.”

The petitioner said that the appointment of Akhtar was done through a tainted process and her consideration and recommendation by the purported Search Committee “subject to vigilance clearance” was in itself irregular and illegal and vitiates the entire process.

The petition has sought that her appointment as VC be declared as “illegal, arbitrary, void ab initio and non est in law”.

An Indian Express report on Akhtar states she was recommended for the post of the Jamia VC by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an outfit patronized by RSS leader Indresh Kumar. Sources in the RSS told IE that she was picked because she neither aligned to the Congress, nor the Left.

However, Akhtar confessed that she was ‘apolitical’. Earlier with the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as the Controller of Examinations, she had faced various allegations of ‘institutionalized corruption’. However, her track record at the JMIU shows her to be an able leader. Since the start of her tenure, Akhtar has made roughly 150 promotions and over 60 fresh appointments. She has also got UGC sanction for four new departments, and has talked of bringing in more women students.

Akhtar still faces many detractors who allege she didn’t do much post December 15. However, faculty members stood up for her saying that though she didn’t do much, the VC’s of universities were not as autonomous as before due to the pressure from the government.

Yet, the letter by Ramaswamy raises eyebrows. If there was ever a problem with her appointment, why is the demand for her removal cropping up after one year?

Related:

Jamia Millia Islamia VC supports the students, condemns horrifying Police violence

Jamia Millia appoints Najma Akhtar as its first woman VC

New Jamia Millia V-C draws criticism after receiving ‘blessings’ from RSS leader

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In an announcement on its Facebook page, Jamia Millia Islamia called Akhtar’s appointment “a progressive land mark in the history of educational leadership and a matter of pride for Jamia Millia Islamia.”

However, Akhtar drew ire on social media after photographs of her getting the ‘blessings’ of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar were circulated. A Facebook page with the handle @indreshkumarofficial posted the photographs, with the caption, “Jamia Millia Islamia University’s new Vice Chancellor Professor Najma Akhtar today met with Honourable Kumarji at his Delhi office, and took guidance and blessings from him.”

Dr. S. Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner, tweeted a copy of the photograph with the words, “New VC of Jamia Millia Islamia,Najma Akhtar getting blessings of Indaresh Kumar, RSS leader.  Don’t they say a picture says a thousand words?!” Other Twitter users also criticised her.

The RSS has long peddled a Hindu supremacist vision for India, and has regularly engaged in rhetoric against minorities, particularly the Muslim community.
 

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Image Courtesy: Indian Express

New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia University has appointed Najma Akhtar as its vice-chancellor, the first woman to hold the post in the university’s nearly 100-year-long history.
 
She replaced Talat Ahmad, who resigned from the post last year before completion of his tenure. Akhtar’s appointment as Jamia Millia Islamia’s vice-chancellor was approved by President Ram Nath Kovind, the university said Thursday. She has been appointed for a period of five years.
 
Following a selection committee meeting, the HRD ministry had sent three names to the president for taking a call on one. Along with Akhtar, two other names—Furqan Qamar, secretary general of Association of Indian Universities, and S.M. Ishtiaque, a professor at IIT Delhi—were sent to the president earlier this year.
 
The President of India is the visitor (head) of all central universities.
 
“In exercise of powers conferred under Statutes of Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988, the President of India, in his capacity as the Visitor of the JMI, has been pleased to appoint Prof Najma Akhtar, NIEPA, New Delhi as the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, for a period of five years,” said an official order.
 
A widely acclaimed educationist, Professor Akhtar is also the first lady vice chancellor of any central university in Delhi.
 
She is known for spearheading international educational administrators’ course for senior officials from 130 countries for more than 15 years at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), reported PTI.
 
A widely acclaimed educationist, Prof. Akhtar is a gold medalist from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and completed her PhD (Education) from Kurukshetra University.
 
She held posts of faculty and Controller of Examinations and Admissions and Director, Academic Programmes at AMU.
 
She was the founder director of State Institute of Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT), Uttar Pradesh, which was established for developing educational administrators for the country.
 
She has earned international accolades, including Commonwealth scholarship and the prestigious National Science Talent scholarship.
 
She studied in international institutes such as University of Warwick and Nottingham UK and IIEP Paris (UNESCO).
 
She has been involved in collaborative research works with developing and developed countries.
 
She has been actively consulted by UNESCO, UNICEF, DANIDA and other international organisations.
 
Gender Equity has been part of most of her projects, the varsity said.
 
The other persons, who were shortlisted by the government for the post were S M Ishtiaque of IIT-Delhi and Furqan Qamar, currently the secretary-general of Association of Universities.
 
Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla is the chancellor of the varsity.
 
Jamia Millia Islamia was originally established at Aligarh in 1920 and became a central university by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988.
 

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