VARANASI: The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Wednesday denied the reports of Reliance Industries executive director Nita Ambani being invited as the 'visiting professor'.
A day earlier, Professor Nidhi Sharma, coordinator of the university's Center for Women's Studies and Development, claimed that a proposal has been sent to make Nita Ambani a 'visiting professor', following which students staged a sit-in on Tuesday.
The university administration issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that no official decision has been taken nor any order has been issued to appoint Nita Ambani as a 'visiting professor' in any department of the university.
The statement said that for the appointment of a 'visiting professor' in the university, the approval of the Academic Council has to be obtained and no such approval has been given in this case.
Reliance Industries Limited has also tweeted that the news of being made a 'visiting professor' in the university is fake and no such proposal has been received by Nita Ambani.
At the same time, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Kaushal Kishore Mishra, said that he had sent a letter on March 12 to make Nita Ambani a 'visiting professor'.
He said that the copy of the letter which was sent was also given to the vice-chancellor of the university.
Significantly, on Tuesday, students staged a sit-in protest protesting the proposal to appoint Nita Ambani as a 'visiting professor' in the university.
The students staging the protest alleged that the BHU is being run at the behest of industrialists, which is against the dignity of the university.
Later, the students stopped their dharna on the persuasion of the vice-chancellor.