President rejects name of Rajat Sharma suggested by HRD ministry on AMU Executive council

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee has returned the Union Ministry of HRD file suggesting the name to fill a vacant seat on Aligarh Muslim University’s executive council and asked the ministry to send more names, according to the report published in the Hindustan Times.

TV editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma and Vijay P Bhatkar, architect of India’s first supercomputer have been recommended for the vacant seat. Mr Bhatka is also the president of Vijnana Bharati, an RSS-affiliated organisation involved with the Swadeshi Science movement.

The University’s executive council is the university’s highest decision-making body. Three of the 28 members on the AMU Executive council are recommended by the Ministry for which the President’s nod is necessary as he is the Visitor of the institution.

This is not for the first time that the President has taken a view different from that of the Smriti Irani headed HRD Ministry.

It is learnt that the President had ignored the HRD Ministry’s recommendation while choosing M Jagadeesh as the JNU Vice Chancellor. There have also been reports that in the matter related to former Visva Bharati VC Sushanta Dattagupta, who was eventually sacked, the President’s office and HRD ministry had certain differences.

Recently, there were media reports of Simirti Irani refusing to fund the university off centre AMU campuses and threatening to close them down .Also there was news of government questioning the legality of Minority status of the university as well.

With inputs from Muslim Mirror, PTI