Dinesh Singh (academic)

Early life and background

Singh earned his B.A. (Hons. – Maths) in 1975 and M.A. (Maths) in 1977 from St. Stephen's College, followed M.Phil (Maths) in 1978 from the University of Delhi. He did a PhD in Math from Imperial College London in 1981. He holds numerous honorary doctorates some of them being awarded by University of Edinburgh, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, University College Cork, Ireland. and University of Houston

Career

Singh started his career as Lecturer at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi in 1981. Thereafter he joined Department of Mathematics, University of Delhi in 1987. He was the Head, Department of Mathematics, University of Delhi from December, 2004 to September, 2005. He served the University of Delhi as a Director, South Campus from 2005-2010. He officiated briefly as Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, before being appointed Vice Chancellor on 29 October 2010. His area of specialization include Functional analysis, Operator Theory, and Harmonic analysis. He is adjunct professor at the University of Houston and has also taught at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. He is a recipient of Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honor awarded by the Republic of India. HHe is noted for being the brainchild and founder of Cluster Innovation Centre at University of Delhi , an inter-disciplinary, first of its kind research center particularly promoting undergraduate research.

Awards and distinctions

Controversies

Dinesh Singh's style of functioning has been termed by a section of Delhi University teachers as "authoritarian" and "megalomaniac". President of the Delhi University & College Karamchari (Worker) Union (DUCKU), publicly made an allegation that the Vice-Chancellor had created a terror-like atmosphere in Delhi University as there is absolutely no space for dissent. An elected member of the DU Executive Council claimed that, in an attempt to stifle any voice of dissent in the university, the VC allowed violence to happen against a senior professor at the Shri Ram College of Commerce. Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences principal Manoj Khanna resigned from his position after calling Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh’s way of functioning as "autocratic". However, spokesperson of the University, Malay Neerav denied Manoj Khanna's allegations that colleges were forced by the Vice Chancellor to submit false affidavits to All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for getting approval to run BTech courses. Other high level administrators like Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Examination had also resigned during the tenure of Dinesh Singh on the grounds of personal reasons but citing sources in the Delhi university, newspapers reported that these officials resigned due to differences with officials of the Vice-Chancellor's team.

His tenure has been controversial and he has been accused of financial and administrative irregularities. A ‘White Paper’ released by Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) alleged financial and administrative irregularities in functioning of Delhi University, like diversion of OBC funds for purchase of laptops or flagging off ‘Gyanodaya Express’. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, after approval of the President of India (who is also the Visitor of Delhi University) issued a showcause notice to Singh regarding these allegations. He is the first Delhi University Vice-Chancellor who has been served a show-cause notice to be removed from the post in the 93-year-old history. Singh responded to the showcause notice denying every charge but HRD ministry turned down his request for withdrawing showcause notice. Noted Academics including ex-President of the Indian National Science Academy, Krishan Lal, former Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, SK Brahmachari, Keki N Daruwallla, ex-Vice President of the Indian Academy of Sciences and a host of academics from JNU, Jamia and Banaras Hindu University and Ex-DU Vice-Chancellor "backed" Prof. Dinesh Singh raising concern over the manner in which, "the autonomy of the university was being compromised". http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-academics-and-ex-du-vice-chancellor-back-dinesh-singh-2076233

The government decided not to process his reply to the showcause notice as he had barely few months left in his tenure and few senior Cabinet ministers pleaded for no action against him in order for him to finish his full term.

The HRD ministry, on 7 October 2015, requested the Visitor to send Dinesh Singh on 'forced leave' on the charge that Dinesh Singh tried to derail the process of appointment of his successor. However, the HRD ministry had to withdraw the request as the Visitor Pranab Mukherjee was not convinced if the DU VC should be punished with barely 20 days left of his term. The Visitor asked Dinesh Singh not to continue for a single day beyond the last day of his term. However, Dinesh Singh denied the charge of intentionally derailing the process of appointment of his successor and asserted that he will not continue a day beyond his tenure as is being speculated. In spite of just 20-odd days left for the completion of his term, a large number of teachers and students came out to protest in front of the Vice Regal Lodge demanding his ouster. Not only did the activists of National Democratic Teachers' Front and Academics for Action and Development (Rathi) protest against Dinesh Singh. but the demand for the removal of Dinesh Singh has seen the archrivals Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) and Academics for Action and Development (AAD) to join anti-VC protests by Delhi University Teachers Association. J Khuntiya, chairman, AAD (Rathi) alleged that the delay has been intentional to ensure that Umesh Rai, a member of the team of Dinesh Singh becomes eligible for selection. One of the names included by Dinesh Singh in the search committee for the selection of new Vice-Chancellor is Vinod Rai.

DUTA has also recently charged Singh with plagiarism and has sought investigation into these plagiarism charges against him.

Singh was instrumental in initiating Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP) which met with a lot of resistance from different quarters, after which the programme was scrapped as per the directives of the University Grant Commission(UGC) . Thereafter, Singh announced his resignation but later retracted it.