Hasan

New Delhi, July 14: Twenty eight MPs have requested the President to ensure that incumbent Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Mushirul Hasan is not reappointed the university head, citing corruption allegations to join an already bitter appointment battle.

The MPs, from across both Houses of Parliament, have also demanded an enquiry into allegations levelled against Hasan in a letter to the President that is rare even in India’s traditionally politicised education system.

“Your kind intervention is required to order an enquiry into these violations and prevent this great institution from long-term damage that would be caused with grant of another term to Shri Mushirul Hasan,” says the letter signed by the MPs.

Some among these MPs have also written to human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Independently, the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat has written to the Prime Minister, saying that the grant of another term to the current Jamia vice-chancellor “will be an insult to the Muslim community”.

The Telegraph has copies of all the letters.

Veteran human resource development ministry officials said they do not recall a similar instance when over two dozen MPs have demanded the President’s intervention to prevent the appointment of a vice-chancellor.

But the letters may have also triggered a counter-campaign by those who believe that the incumbent Jamia vice-chancellor is the best man to lead the university for the next five years.

“We will also try and mount a similar campaign. We may also get parliamentarians to sign on a letter,” a source close to Hasan said.

Appointed in 2004, Hasan’s five-year tenure as Jamia vice-chancellor ended on June 9 this year and he has been asked to continue in office till a successor is selected.

The Jamia Millia Islamia Act — that governs the university — allows a second term for the vice-chancellor, although it is uncommon for a fresh term to be granted.

All other central universities bar the reappointment of a vice-chancellor after a five-tear tenure, except in “exceptional circumstances”.

Hasan, a historian, has found himself embroiled in controversy earlier, too. Some Muslim leaders have for long demanded that Jamia be converted into a minority educational institution. Hasan has opposed the proposal, placing him in conflict with senior community leaders.

Last year, after Delhi police arrested two Jamia students for alleged terror links, the vice-chancellor said the university was prepared to legally defend the students if they needed assistance.

His suggestion earned him the BJP’s ire but won him support from Jamia students. His stance against converting Jamia into a minority institution also won him support from sections of the academic community.

But his tenure as Jamia chief has seen repeated allegations of corruption, nepotism, favouritism — and charges of violation of the university law by the President’s Office itself.

The President had challenged Jamia’s decision to award honorary doctorates to actors Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah and others last October without her consent.

As visitor — the highest authority of all central higher educational institutions — of Jamia, the President’s approval is mandatory under law before the university can dole out honorary doctorates.

“My main concern is that because the incumbent vice-chancellor is so controversial, his reappointment will be bad for Jamia,” Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal said.

Mohammed Adeeb, an Independent MP in the Rajya Sabha, whose nomination was supported by both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, also demanded that a replacement for Hasan be selected “promptly”.

“Jamia will start its academic session later this week. Given how politicised the campus is, if Hasan continues into the new session, it will divide students when the new vice-chancellor takes over,” Adeeb said.

Hyderabad MP Asauddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e Ittihad al-Muslimin and Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind chief Mahmood Madani, a Rajya Sabha MP on a Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket, are among signatories to the letter.

MPs from the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and Radha Mohan Singh of the BJP are other signatories to the letter.

A selection committee set up by the HRD ministry to select a vice-chancellor at the end of Hasan’s tenure had to be changed after it was revealed that a panel member was a university beneficiary. This could lead to a conflict of interest. A new panel was formed and recommended five names, including Hasan and three bureaucrats.