New Delhi, August 23
Mired long by politicking, the much-awaited appointment of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Vice-Chancellor may well be on the cards, with the Human Resource Development Ministry learnt to have recommended the name of Najeeb Jung, a 1973 batch IAS officer and former joint secretary in the petroleum and natural gas ministry, for the top job.
Apart from Jung, who quit the IAS for academics in 1995, the V-C’s panel sent to the President for her final assent, also includes the names of Bihar home secretary Afzal Amaanullah and outgoing JMI V-C Mushirul Hasan, who completed his five-year term at the university on June 9 this year.
Although there is no precedence of a V-C of a central university getting a second term, Hassan was very much in the race for a reselection, with certain sections within the Congress lobbying hard for him and certain opposing him. But the dust about Hassan’s second installation now appears settled, with HRD minister Kapil Sibal firmly recommending Jung for the slot.
Jung has been associated with the Asian Development Bank, Oxford University (where he did his Ph D in energy research) and most importantly with the Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries, where he served as Director, Energy Research with the RIL-funded Observer Research Foundation. Posted earlier in London, he was recently recalled to India and is presently working with the Reliance Global Management Services.
Recently, he made headlines after unsuccessfully contesting the post of chairman and managing director of ONGC, a slot for which his case is said to have been strongly pushed by the industrial lobby he has been associated with.
Those who know Jung closely, however, vouch for his academic credentials. If appointed the V-C- of JMI by the President, who is Visitor of the University, Jung would be handling such a top academic position in India for the first time.
He is also known to have some political connections, with his brothers having served in the government. One of his brothers was secretary, Civil Aviation.
That apart, Jung appears a good choice as JMI V-C at the moment, given the controversies surrounding Murshirul Hassan’s reselection. The JMI faculty is deeply divided over Hassan’s second appointment.
While a section of teachers support his case, another group is opposed to him, and cites several controversial appointments he made during his tenure as V-C. “If every appointment in JMI is by rotation, why should the V-C get a second term?” asks a faculty member.
With lobbyism marking Hassan’s case, the government obviously wants to play safe. “In such a surcharged atmosphere, pro and against lobbies are not good for university governance. Moreover, Jung, being an outsider and a strong academic, has an advantage,” HRD ministry sources today told The Tribune, adding that Jung’s bureaucratic background is no deterrent for his appointment.
JMI has earlier had as V-Cs Lt Col MA Zaki and Bihar cadre IAS officer Syed Shahid Mahdi. In fact, it was after long that Hassan, a historian, became JMI’s V-C in 2004.
Also for Hassan, his closeness to former HRD minister Arjun Singh does not seem to have augured well in the changed scheme of things. So fond was Hassan of Singh that he named a building and a road after the former HRD minister. And the present incumbent Kapil Sibal is not known to be very fond of Arjun Singh.
