Patna, Aug. 1: Harish Chandra Singh Rathore would take over as the new vice-chancellor (VC) of Central University of South Bihar (CUSB), filling up the post after more than one-and-a-half years.

Rathore, who works as the dean in the faculty of education at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), received the letter of appointment from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday evening. He is likely to assume the charge next week.

Rathore, who has worked at BHU in various capacities, including that of chief proctor from 2008 to 2013, is considered a tough and disciplined administrator. It was Rathore's contribution that BHU sorted out several problems of boarders thus helping the university to maintain its reputation.

CUSB, which was earlier known as Central University of Bihar, was set up under the Central Universities Act, 2009. It got its first founder VC Janak Pandey on March 2, 2009. His tenure expired on February 28, 2014. Since then the VC's post was vacant with pro-VC Debdas Banerjee acting as the in-charge VC.

Sources attributed the absence of a regular VC to backlog in many important works in the university. The construction work of CUSB's permanent campus at Panchanpur (near Gaya), 110km south of Patna on 300 acres has come to a standstill with only the boundary wall complete. After Pandey's tenure expired, CUSB neither conducted faculty recruitment nor introduced any new course. However, last month, after getting consent from ministry of human resources development, CUSB invited applications for recruitment of faculty.

A teacher at CUSB, preferring anonymity, said: "As the varsity has got a new and permanent VC, the university expects all administrative and academic work in the varsity to gain speed."

Rathore, apart from being dean education, has also been the coordinator of the BHU's internal quality assurance cell for a long period. The cell is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring quality management by ushering in innovations leading to achieve excellence of the varsity.

Rathore, talking to The Telegraph from Varanasi, said: "My first and last task would be to improve the educational standard of CUSB by adopting new and innovative ideas."

Rathore, who has received several national and international awards, is the lone recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship given by the government of Germany in the field of education in India.