The Hindu : New Delhi News : Professor's return to JNU sparks off another row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 18, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Professor's return to JNU sparks off another row

Staff Reporter

DUTA claims that Prof. Bhargava had to leave after a letter from the President, university officials dismiss it as baseless DUTA claims victory

NEW DELHI: : Nearly two years after his appointment as Head of the Political Science Department at Delhi University kicked off a controversy and led to a professor filing a case in the High Court, Rajeev Bhargava is finally back to his original campus here - Jawaharlal Nehru University.

And while JNU is celebrating his return, the North Campus of Delhi University is rife with rumours about the "real" reason behind his return. While the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) claims that Prof. Bhargava - who was on a lien as a Political Science professor in Delhi University - had to leave after a letter from the President and Delhi University Visitor, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, senior officials at the university dismiss the claim as completely baseless and a result of fictitious imagination.

"There is no basis to the claim. I don't know where this has come from. My reasons for going are entirely personal,'' says Prof. Bhargava, adding, "it has been an honour to be part of the University. There are always one or two people who are difficult, but overall it has been an exceptional department that has shown a high amount of commitment and fantastic research. I did not join the department to be head and it was never really an issue.''

According to DUTA, it had touched upon the topic of irregular appointments in the university during its meeting with the President recently. Only, while the DUTA is claiming a victory, the university described the news as completely false. "There has been no such letter. The entire episode is a fictitious episode created by a section. Prof. Bhargava has joined JNU because he did not want to continue here anymore. There are a lot of teachers who come on a lien basis and leave if they don't like it. In any case, his lien period was coming to an end soon,'' says the Delhi University Pro Vice-Chancellor, C.R. Babu.

But members of the Political Science Department say the reasons are not as simple. "They may not accept it, but his return is definitely not because he wanted to go back to JNU. This would not have happened without an intervention from higher offices. We know for certain reasons that there was an intimation,'' claims a department member.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section

No kidding

CSB project still awaits Government clearance

"Create sense of urgency for reforms''

"Govt. falls into VAT trap''

Professor's return to JNU sparks off another row

Capital gets first surveillance unit

Mismanagement at Kotla Stadium

Al-Jazeera seeks Arabic version of film-making DVD

Extra time for VVIPs

A busy day for security personnel

Protest against Musharraf's visit