‘I am Being Targeted For Bringing Discipline In University’: JNU’s Illustrious Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor Dr Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, who is being vehemently criticised by left-leaning student groups and some political leaders besides the JNU Teachers Union (JNUTA) demanding his removal, on Tuesday (14 December) said that he is being targeted for bringing discipline in the varsity.

The JNU VC in an interview with news agency IANS said that a small section of the faculty and students of the varsity are opposing him because they were used to function without any rules and regulations but now they have to follow them.

“When we want to function efficiently, we can’t let the university components function as they wish. They have to follow certain rules and regulations,” Kumar said.

The JNU VC added that rules and regulations of the varsity are formed by the Academic Council and the Executive Council.

“These are our own rules and regulations and ordinances. So how can you say that you don’t want to follow them. So that is why I think some of these faculty and students, they have consistently opposed right from the beginning,” he added.

Earlier, the JNUTA had urged the Ministry of Human Resource Development to remove Kumar.

They also presented a dossier to MHRD, which they claim contains details of "misgovernance" by him and the violence on 5 January, they said was a "culmination".

Kumar, who did his Masters and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras followed by post doctoral research at University of Waterloo, Canada, had made notable contribution to his field of research.

Kumar also teaches as professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi. He received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Teaching (in large class category) from IIT Delhi.

In the areas of Nano-electronic Devices, Nanoscale Device modelling and simulation, Innovative Device Design and Power semiconductor devices, his work has been published extensively with three books, four book chapters and more than 250 publications in refereed journals and conferences.

Several patent applications have been filed based on his research, and Kumar is a renowned expert in Nano sciences and Engineering.