Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, who is retiring on October 29, will not be visiting Palestine and Israel with Pranab Mukherjee as his name has been dropped from the President's delegation with HRD Ministry maintaining that MoUs signed by him during the trip will be of little significance.
Officials in the HRD Ministry said that the Rashtrapati Bhavan was informed about his retirement on October 29 and requested that he be replaced with another official from the university.
The President's trip to Palestine and Israel would begin from October 10.
"Singh would be retiring this month and hence it would not be feasible to follow on the MoUs signed by him with universities there," they said.
According to official communication sent by the HRD Ministry to the President's Secretariat, "As the State visit is scheduled from October 9 to 15, he (Singh) will have only a few working days left on return from the visit abroad before his term expires.
"Since the main purpose of the State visit is international collaboration, he will thus not be in a position to take forward the issues and decisions taken on academic collaborations during the deliberations with foreign countries concern," it said.
The Ministry's action comes against the backdrop of Singh being served show cause notice in March this year asking him to explain the circumstances under which he had introduced the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP).
The Ministry had also sent all the representations received about the allegedly irregularities committed by Singh to the President.
Though Singh has replied to the show cause, the Ministry is yet to act on it.
With Singh retiring on October 29, the Ministry has already set up a search-cum-selection committee to find a new Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.
Singh has faced controversy ever since the introduction of the FYUP, allegedly without the clearances.
He had also been facing flak from the Delhi University Teacher's Association (DUTA), which has been demanding his removal since last year, and had also released a white paper in August accusing the VC of administrative and financial irregularities.
