Staff Reporter

RONO HILLS, 3 Jul: Dr Shivaraj, retired professor of chemistry at Osmania University, Hyderabad, has been appointed as the regular vice-chancellor (VC) of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here.

Dr Shivaraj obtained his master’s degree in 1983 and PhD in 1989 from Osmania University. He joined the university as an assistant professor in 1986. With 34 years of teaching experience – including 15 years as a professor – he superannuated in September 2020. He was conferred the Best Teacher Award by the Telangana state government in 2018.

AAPSU welcomes appointment of VC, seeks one for APU

Meanwhile, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has welcomed the union government’s appointment of Dr Shivaraj as the regular VC of RGU.

The appointment, notified by the Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education on 2 July, 2026, ends nearly two years of uncertainty over the university’s top academic leadership.

Dr Shivaraj has been appointed for a term of five years from the date he assumes office, or until he attains the age of 70, whichever is earlier, as per the notification issued by Deputy Secretary Shreya Bhardwaj.

RGU had been functioning without a regular, full-time VC since October 2024, when Prof SK Nayak was designated in-charge VC following the end of Prof Saket Kushwaha’s extended tenure.

The absence of a permanent head had been a longstanding concern for the AAPSU, which had repeatedly petitioned the Centre – including in a 27-point memorandum submitted to Education Minister Pasang Dorjee Sona in May this year – for the university to be given regular leadership.

AAPSU president Meje Taku, reacting to the development, said: “This appointment addresses a genuine and longstanding concern of the student community of Arunachal Pradesh. RGU is the state’s lone central university, and prolonged in-charge arrangements cannot substitute for a full-time vice-chancellor empowered to take binding academic and administrative decisions. We thank the Ministry of Education and the Government of India for responding to our demand and appointing a regular vice-chancellor.”

“We hope Dr Shivaraj will build on this moment and take RGU to even greater heights – in research, infrastructure, faculty recruitment, and student welfare – for the overall growth of the state and the larger interest of our students,” he said.

While welcoming the RGU appointment, AAPSU reiterated its demand for immediate appointment of a regular VC at the Arunachal Pradesh University (APU), Pasighat – the state’s own university and, as AAPSU has noted, the outcome of decades of the union’s advocacy. The APU has been functioning without a regular VC since February 2026, despite the post having been advertised since August 2025.

“Now that the Centre has shown it can act on this issue at RGU, we expect the same urgency for APU Pasighat. The post has been vacant since February and advertised since August last year – that is too long for a state university to remain without a full-time head. We demand that a regular vice-chancellor be appointed at APU before the commencement of the next academic session, so that admissions, academic planning, and administrative decisions are not left in limbo,” Taku said in a release.