A former vice-chancellor of a central university who failed to complete his five-year term over alleged non-performance has been appointed chairman of a search-cum-selection committee to pick a VC for Visva-Bharati University.

Sachidananda Mohanty, former VC of the Central University of Odisha, currently heads a panel of academics appointed to select the Visva-Bharati VC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chancellor of Visva-Bharati.

Mohanty, a professor of English at Hyderabad Central University, was appointed VC of the Central University of Odisha by the NDA government in August 2015 for five years.

Mohanty resigned in February 2019 after the human resource development ministry nudged him to do so following allegations of non-performance.

The post of VC in Visva-Bharati has been vacant since November last year after Bidyut Chakrabarty completed his tenure. The government refrained from giving Chakrabarty an extension amid complaints about his “arbitrary” ways of running the institution.

Sanjoy Mallik is currently the VC-in-charge.

Visva-Bharati sources said the university had suggested the names of Kumud Shama, a faculty member at the Hindi department of Delhi University, and Vivek Debroy, chairman of the economic advisory council, to the Prime Minister for the panel. President Droupadi Murmu has nominated Mohanty on the Centre’s advice.