The executive council of the Nehru museum chaired by Karan Singh gave the extension on July 27, culture ministry sources said on Wednesday. All the members who attended the meeting backed Mukherjee. The recommendation is now with the prime minister for final approval, they added.
Mukherjee’s three-year deputation ended last week. Her extension was opposed by 57 scholars who petitioned Manmohan Singh to revive the museum so that it again became ‘India’s pre-eminent centre of dispassionate scholarship in humanities and social sciences”.
In a letter, they demanded that “once the present director Mridula Mukherjee’s term ended in August, her successor must be chosen through an open transparent process”.
Published 05 August 2009, 16:53 IST