The central government on Wednesday notified the appointment of National Stock Exchange CEO and managing director Ashish Kumar Chauhan and Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu as members of the University Grants Commission (UGC), India’s regulator for higher education, taking the body’s strength to eight members from just four.
The Department of Higher Education in the Education Ministry also appointed Sachidananda Mohanty, former vice chancellor of the Central University of Odisha and serving vice chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration Shashikala Gulabrao Wanjari to the Commission, with a tenure of three years, or till further orders.
As per the UGC Act of 1956, the Commission can have ten members, apart from the chairman and vice chairman, roles that are currently occupied by Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar and Deepak Kumar Srivastava, respectively. Of the remaining ten members, two are required to be central government officials. These roles are occupied by Higher Education Secretary Sanjay Murthy and Additional Secretary in the Expenditure Department of the Finance Ministry, Sanjay Prasad.
