The appointment of Sanjay Kumar as the rector of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has come under scrutiny.

After completing his term as the BHU vice-chancellor, Sudhir Kumar Jain had last week handed over the charge to Kumar, the rector. The university had issued an order stating that Kumar had taken over as in-charge VC as mandated by the BHU Act.

However, Om Shankar, a senior faculty member and former head of the cardiology department, has in a post on X alleged that Kumar’s first appointment as the rector was illegal.

Shankar told this newspaper that the BHU Act had been violated in Kumar’s appointment as the rector, thereby invalidating his current appointment as the in-charge VC.

According to the BHU Act, the rector is supposed to be appointed by the executive council (EC) on the recommendation of the VC. If the EC rejects the first recommendation, the VC may propose another name. If the EC does not accept the second suggestion, the VC can forward both names to the Visitor. The Visitor may appoint either of them or direct the VC to recommend another person to the EC.

“The BHU does not have an EC for three years. The regular VC was taking all decisions using his emergency power. These decisions have to be ratified by the EC in its next meeting, which hasn’t taken place in three years,” Shankar said.

“The Act says that the EC has to appoint the rector. But in the case of the rector’s appointment, the VC nominated Kumar’s name and approved him using his emergency power. How can the VC be the nominating authority and approving authority?” he said.

Shankar has also argued that the BHU Act mandated that the rector should be a full-time official. However, Kumar was serving as the director of the science faculty during his tenure as the rector, he claimed.

A PIL has been filed by Varanasi resident Harikesh Bahadur Singh in Allahabad High Court against Jain taking decisions using his emergency power in the absence of the EC. On January 8, the government counsel told a division bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Vikas Budhwar that EC members would be appointed within a week.

An email and a text message were sent to Kumar and Jain, respectively, to understand their perspective on the allegations. Their responses are awaited.