JNU professor Rakesh Bhatnagar has been appointed as the vice-chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the HRD Ministry said on Saturday. Bhatnagar, who was VC of Kumaon University from 2012 to 2013, has been teaching at JNU for two decades. President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the Visitor to the university, approved Bhatnagar's appointment this week, a senior HRD Ministry official said.

Bhatnagar's areas of interest include molecular biology of infectious diseases, recombinant vaccine development and programmed cell death in prokaryotes. Bhatnagar's predecessor, Girish Chandra Tripathi, had gone on leave two months before his tenure came to an end, following a ruckus on campus in September last year.

The development came amid indications from HRD Ministry sources that the central government was upset with the manner in which the former vice-chancellor had handled the entire episode, including a protest by women students following an incident of alleged harassment.

The ruckus started when a number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident turned violent in BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country.