NEW DELHI: Amid growing protest from within the Jawaharlal Nehru University for removal of the current acting registrar Bhupionder Zutshi, JNU Executive Council in a meeting on Monday decided to continue with him till his term ends.
The Council also appointed Professor Chintamani Mohapatra at the School of International Studies as the Rector of the varsity.
A three member search cum select committee was also formed to finalise the appointment of the next registrar Zutshi’s term ends on March 31.
The decisions taken in the meeting have left a section of students and teachers disappointed "For the past one week students and teachers have been demanding the removal of the Registrar but the administration has not paid any heed to our demands. This shows that there is some kind of larger conspiracy by the administration to act against the students," said a member of JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA).
Terming the appointments a "strictly routine" affair, Zutshi said "While Mohapatra has been appointed the Rector, Professor Prasanjit Sen who was currently holding the position has been granted extension of one month. A three-member search committee was formed today to finalise the appointment of the next Registrar. The vacancies for the post were advertised and applications have already been received," he said.
"We wanted the Vice Chancellor to take action against the Registrar for misguiding him in the way February 9 incident should have been handled," said JNU student's union vice president Shehla Rashid Shora.
Meanwhile, Shora also accused the administration “brutal clampdown on culture of free speech” as it allegedly instructed all the photocopy shops in the University campus not to print any posters or pamphlets of any student organisation.