Ending Panjab University’s (PU) over three-month wait for a regular vice-chancellor (V-C), the office of the Vice-President of India, the university’s de facto chancellor, on Monday announced the appointment of Dr Tankeshwar Kumar, 63, to the post for a three-year term.
Kumar is currently serving as the V-C of the Central University of Haryana.
Kumar has had a long association with PU’s Department of Physics, where he is still listed as a UGC Professor on leave. Kumar brings considerable administrative experience to the post. He has also held additional charge as V-C of Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, and Chaudhary Bansi Lal University, Bhiwani. Kumar takes charge at a time when PU is grappling with several administrative and academic challenges.
An alumnus of the university, he completed MSc in Physics in 1985 and PhD in 1990 before serving the department in various capacities, including as lecturer and reader. Before taking over as the V-C of the Central University of Haryana in 2021, he headed Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, from 2015 to 2021. Apart from remaining without a regular V-C for 103 days, several key positions at the university are also functioning under additional-charge arrangements, an issue recently flagged by the Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA).
He subsequently became a UGC Professor of Physics – the first in the country to be appointed to this position under the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Faculty Recharge Programme, according to his official academic profile.
His appointment brings an end to the interim arrangement under which Prof Meenakshi Goyal, dean of university instruction (DUI), had been discharging the duties of V-C since July 29, after the tenure of former V-C Prof Renu Vig ended on July 28.
His tenure as PU V-C will begin from the date he assumes charge, according to the notification.
