LUCKNOW: Justice Girdhar Malviya, retired judge of Allahabad High Court, was named the new chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at a full court of the prestigious university convened in Varanasi on Monday. Justice Malviya is the grandson of Bharat Ratna Madan Mohan Malviya who had established BHU, the largest residential central university in Asia in 1916.
Prior to this, senior Congressman and former MP, Dr Karna Singh had been on the post. However, in all 11 names, including former Vice-Chancellor Professor Punjab Singh, YC Simadri, Prof. Murli Manohar Joshi and Varanasi royal family’s Kunwar Anant Narayan Singh, were doing round for the coveted position in the university.
Justice Malviya’s name was proposed by BHU vice-chancellor Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar. After a long debate and confabulations, the consensus was built and members of the court put their seal on the name of Justice Malviya as the next BHU chancellor. The university has sent the name of Justice Malviya to the President of India for approval.
In fact, the court is a body which elects the chancellor. Forty MPs from different states of the country happen to be the members of this body but in Monday’s meeting no one was present. The Chancellor of BHU, elected by the university Court, holds the office for a term of three years or continues to be in office until the election of his successor.