LN Bhagat (right) being welcomed to RUon Wednesday. (Hardeep Singh)

Old place, new post.

Director of ISM-Pundag L.N. Bhagat, who had earlier served at Ranchi University as registrar, was named the vice chancellor of the varsity on Wednesday. Ram Yatan Prasad will take over as pro-vice chancellor of Sidho-Kanho Murmu University (SKMU). Prasad is head of the chemistry department at SKMU.

Raj Bhavan officially announced the names after governor-cum-chancellor of state universities Syed Ahmed gave his final stamp of approval.

The governor formed a search committee, headed by Jharkhand High Court judge Justice R.K. Merathia, in November to select the successor of RU vice chancellor A.A. Khan, who retired on December 31, 2011. As many as 175 applicants had expressed interest for the RU top job while over 80 had applied for SKMU’s pro-vice chancellor’s post.

After much scrutiny, the search committee — comprising chief secretary S.K. Choudhary, principal secretary to governor A.K. Pandey and former vice chancellor of RU K.K. Nag apart from Merathia — zeroed in on three candidates for each post.

An eager and elated Bhagat, who was the registrar of RU from January 2004 to September 2008, was in the process of taking over his new post when The Telegraph contacted him. “I am already at the university to take charge. I received the news an hour ago and it feels great to return to the university,” he said.

Asked how he aims to develop the university, Bhagat said he had many plans, but would talk at ease once he had taken care of the formalities.