After weeks of delay, Professor Sudhir Krishnaswamy has been formally declared as the vice-chancellor of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU).
Although a photograph of Krishnaswamy signing documents formalising his appointment was leaked on Wednesday evening, there were conflicting reports that the appointment was not yet official because a circular on the matter had not been sent out, as is a common practice.
Speaking to DH, Professor Krishnaswamy clarified that he took charge as the vice-chancellor at 5 pm on Wednesday.
“I am pleased to take over the position, and I look forward to having a fruitful tenure as vice-chancellor. I am glad to have started, and now we are getting down to work,” he said.
The delay of over 50 days in Krishnaswamy’s appointment, resulted in a protest by students demanding that the selection of Krishnaswamy, an alumnus of NLSIU and Oxford, be formalised.
Angered by what they termed as the obfuscation of the appointment process by some members of the university’s administration, students went on a three-day strike from last Saturday, which saw them skip term-end exams.
Although all that was pending was a formal decision on Krishnaswamy’s appointment by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who is also the Chancellor of the university, senior student leaders explained a delay in the formalisation of his appointment happened at the last moment.
They allege that the registrar of the university was sending incomplete documents to the Chief Justice, leading the delays, in addition to introducing a clause asking for confirmation of receipt of the appointment letter from members of the Executive Council (EC), which had decided on Krishnaswamy’s appointment as VC.
“This was not part of the procedure,” a senior student said.
The protests ended on Monday evening after Gogoi and Justice Sharad Bobde made a statement to a representative sent by students to Delhi, offering clarity on the situation.
Professor Krishnaswamy graduated in BA LLB from NLSIU in 1998. He has been a teaching fellow in Law at the Pembroke College at Oxford University, an assistant professor at NLSIU, and a professor at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. He was also on the faculty of the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru.