The Hindu : National : Valson Thampu quits St. Stephen’s

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Valson Thampu quits St. Stephen’s

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Just over a month after the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions declared his appointment “patently illegal”, Valson Thampu resigned as officiating Principal and Officer on Special Duty at Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College on Saturday citing “personal reasons”.

Mr. Thampu resigned as OSD officiating as Principal at an “urgent meeting” of the Supreme Council of the prestigious college. “His resignation has been accepted by the college with deep regret. The Council has asked him to continue in office till Tuesday. He resigned on his own,” announced Vice-Principal M. S. Frank at a press conference later in the day.

Until the college gets a new Principal, which is expected only by May, Dr. Frank has been appointed pro-tem administrator to oversee the functioning of the institution. He will report directly to the Chairman of the Supreme Council, Bishop S. K. Singh.

Interestingly, a petition filed by a former student of the college, Sheetal P. Singh, with the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (on which it delivered the judgment) had raised doubts over genuineness of the Ph.D. degree in theology that Mr. Thampu had acquired from Allahabad Agricultural Institute. It had also alleged that the appointments of Vice-Principal M. S. Frank and Bursar N. Raghunathan were illegal since they had been appointed by Mr. Thampu. The college has also now appointed an advocate, Sunil Mathew, its new media adviser, which again is likely to spark off another controversy as he is not a member of the faculty.

Also, in view of “poor response” to the earlier advertisement by the college for the post of Principal, the authorities have decided to re-advertise the post.

Process initiated

“The Supreme Council has initiated the process for appointing a Principal in accordance with the Constitution of the college and with due regard to the University regulations. The advertisement will be published by next weekend,” announced Mr. Mathew.

Asked if the decision to issue a fresh advertisement was made after the University administration shot off two missives to the college pointing out anomalies in the earlier advertisement, the media adviser said it “had nothing to do with it”.

The latest turn of events in Delhi comes close in the wake of reports from Shimla last week that Anil Wilson, who headed St. Stephen’s College as Principal for well over 15 years, had put in his papers as Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University and speculation had been rife that he could be eyeing the St. Stephen’s Principal’s post again.

When contacted on Saturday, Dr. Wilson told The Hindu that the timing of both developments was a “sheer coincidence” and clarified that he was “not running for the post of Principal”.

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