NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Thursday said he won’t be seeking a second term as the Chancellor of Nalanda University, citing Centre’s ‘delay’ in endorsing the Board meeting last month as the reason. In an open letter dated February 19, Sen wrote to the Members of the Governing Board, “It is hard for me not to conclude that the Centre wants me to cease being the Chancellor of the Nalanda University after this July, and technically it has the power to do so.”
He said that in January, the Board had unanimously decided to make him the Chancellor for the second time, once his current tenure ends in July. However, since then, there has been no reply from the President, who is the Visitor of the University, granting his approval. “As the Board Members are aware, our Visitor - President Pranab Mukherjee - has always taken a deep personal interest in the speedy progress of the work of the University, we have to assume that something makes it difficult - or impossible - for him to act with speed in this matter,” Sen wrote.