UP governor appoints new vice chancellor of Deen Dayal Upadhyay University

Lucknow Aug 25 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel has appointed Prof. Poonam Tandon as the new vice chancellor of Deen Dayal Upadhyay University in Gorakhpur, an official statement said.

The Governor, who is the chancellor of the university, has appointed Prof. Poonam Tandon of Lucknow University as the new Vice-Chancellor of the Gorakhpur university for a period of three years from the day of assuming charge, a Raj BHawan statement said on Thursday.

A university official said that the tenure of Vice Chancellor Rajesh Singh was scheduled to end on September 4.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University had witnessed protests last month leading to the expulsion of 18 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students for allegedly manhandling the vice chancellor.

On July 21, the students staged a protest on issues such as fee hike, irregular examination schedule, problems faced by research scholars and hostel allotment.

When the vice chancellor and other officials came out of their office to speak to the students, the situation had turned ugly with some students allegedly attacking Singh and other officials and also vandalising the VC’s office. A video clip of the incident was also shared on social media.

Later, the university expelled 18 students and banned six outsiders from entering the campus. All those who faced action are members of the RSS’ student wing ABVP and were part of the protest that turned violent on July 21.

Meanwhile, the governor has also appointed Prof Vandana Singh of Allahabad University, Prayagraj as the vice chancellor of Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, Jaunpur. Prof. Vandana Singh has been appointed for a period of three years from the date of assuming charge, the statement added.