By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Aligarh : Though President of the Republic APJ Abul Kalam is entitled to appoint one of the three persons recommended by the Aligarh Muslim University Court as Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor PK Abdul Azis, present Vice Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology is likely to be named as the next VC of this pioneer Muslim educational centre.
The post of Vice Chancellor is lying vacant since former VC Naseem Ahmed tendered his resignation following the brutal killing of two promising students of the University.
As per constitution of the University, an Election Commission constituted by the Executive Council of the University recommends a panel of five persons to the AMU Court, which shortlists this panel and recommends a panel of three persons to the President of India to appoint any one of them as Vice Chancellor.
A special meeting of the Executive Council of the University on May 5 recommended a panel of five names to the University Court for the appointment of the new Vice Chancellor. They are Professor PK Abdul Azis (Vice Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology), Professor SM Ilyas (Director, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad), Lt. General Zameeruddin Shah (Deputy Chief of the Army Staff), Professor Monirul Hasan (Guwahati University) and Professor SN Pathan (Vice Chancellor, Rashtrasant Tukovoji Maharaj University, Nagpur).
The next day, on May 6, the University Court finalised a panel of three out of the five names recommended by the EC. The name of PK Abdul Azis tops the list while the other two are Lt. General Zameeruddin Shah and Professor SN Pathan.
One remarkable point this time is that none of the three persons on the panel is an IAS or IPS, as had been the case for the last several elections. This shows that owing to the bitter experience of an IAS/IPS officer ruling over the students with iron hand for quite some years the University Court opted for an academician to lead the University.