JNU appoints IAS officer Rohit Kansal as Honorary Special Fellow, teachers' body alleges statute violation

New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) on Tuesday questioned the appointment of senior IAS officer Rohit Kansal as "Honorary Special Fellow" at the university, claiming it was done without the approval of the Executive Council in violation of its statutes.

There was no immediate response on the matter from the JNU administration. The university had posted the announcement of Kansal's appointment on its official social media account on X on Monday. "Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Vice Chancellor, JNU is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Rohit Kansal (IAS, 1995 Batch), Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, as Honorary Special Fellow at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Centre for Security & Strategic Studies, SIS, JNU.

"The appointment recognises his distinguished service and expertise. We look forward to his valuable contributions to academic discourse at JNU," the post said.

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The university's teachers' body claimed that there is no such position in JNU, and under the JNU statutes, the Executive Council (EC) is the sole authority responsible for the creation of posts and appointments to positions in the University, acting through prescribed procedures and statutory bodies. A press release by JNUTA said that without the approval of the EC, the announcement of the appointment would be illegal.

"The JNUTA therefore demands that the Vice Chancellor should come out clean on how she has bestowed powers upon herself to make this appointment, flouting all relevant statutes, and should withdraw the announcement of this illegal appointment immediately," it said.