Professor Tankeshwar Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Haryana, has been appointed the new Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh, for a three-year term. The appointment was notified by the Secretariat of the Vice-President of India.
Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, who is the Chancellor of Panjab University, made the appointment under Section 10 of the Panjab University Act, 1947. According to the notification, Kumar's tenure will begin from the date he assumes charge. The order was signed by Amit Khare, Secretary to the Vice-President and Chancellor of the university.
Kumar succeeds the interim arrangement under which Professor Meenakshi Goyal, Dean of University Instruction, had been discharging the responsibilities of Vice-Chancellor since July 29. The tenure of former Vice-Chancellor Professor Renu Cheema Vig ended on July 28, following a four-month extension granted earlier in March. The appointment ends a 103-day wait for a regular head of the university.
Kumar has a longstanding association with Panjab University. Before moving into university administration, he served as a professor in its Department of Physics and held the position of UGC Professor. He previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, from 2015 to 2021, before taking charge of the Central University of Haryana in 2021.
His academic work is in theoretical and computational condensed matter physics, nanotechnology, modelling and computer simulations. According to reports on his appointment, he has more than 170 research publications and has guided 14 doctoral scholars.
The appointment comes at a time when Panjab University faces several administrative and governance-related matters. The university's Senate, its elected governing body, has been a point of contention following the Centre's October 2025 notification proposing changes to the Senate and Syndicate. The notification was subsequently withdrawn after protests by students and other stakeholders. The university resumed the Senate election process, with polling concluding on October 4, 2026.
The previous Senate's tenure had ended on October 31, 2024. The constitution of the new Senate and the restoration of regular university governance remain important matters for the administration.
Kumar will take charge of the university as it works through these institutional concerns, alongside its academic and research priorities. His appointment brings an end to the interim leadership arrangement and returns an alumnus and former faculty member to the university's top administrative post.
