Vice chancellor of Nagpur University S N Pathan is tipped to be the next secretary general of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) after
the incumbent Prof Dayanand Dongaonkar completes his tenure.
According to highly reliable sources, though Pathan is the senior-most member and one of the favourites, other contenders may give him a tough fight. Others in the race include a University Grants Commission official and one Dr Shah from Bina in Madhya Pradesh. If selected, Pathan will have to give up his post as VC of Nagpur University, since the AIU secretary general is said to be a full time job.
The city already has another person in the AIU hierarchy in the form of Kavi Kulguru Kalidas Sanskrit university vice chancellor Pankaj Chande, who is vice-president of the organisation.
The AIU secretary general will be selected during a meeting of top AIU officials including president M D Tiwari, director of Indian Institute of Information Technology in Allahabad, besides Chande and Dongaonkar in Delhi at 11 am.
Sources in the university said that Pathan was making all efforts to take up the coveted job as he was facing intense criticism from all quarters over his style of working. Moreover, all his policies have boomeranged and a host of promises made by him like discovery park and distance education courses among others have remained only on paper.