ITANAGAR : The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has welcomed the Union Government’s appointment of Dr. Shivaraj, retired Professor of Chemistry at Osmania University, Hyderabad, as the regular Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), Doimukh.
The appointment, notified by the Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education on 2 July 2026, ends nearly two years of uncertainty over the university’s top academic leadership.
Dr. Shivaraj has been appointed for a term of five years from the date he assumes office, or until he attains the age of 70, whichever is earlier, as per the notification issued by Deputy Secretary Shreya Bhardwaj.
RGU had been functioning without a regular, full-time Vice Chancellor since October 2024, when Prof SK Nayak was designated in-charge VC following the end of Prof Saket Kushwaha’s extended tenure.
The absence of a permanent head had been a long-standing concern for AAPSU, which had repeatedly petitioned the Centre — including in a 27-point memorandum submitted to Education Minister Pasang Dorjee Sona in May this year — for the university to be given regular leadership.
AAPSU President Meje Taku, reacting to the development, said “This appointment addresses a genuine and long-standing concern of the student community of Arunachal Pradesh. RGU is the state’s lone central university, and prolonged in-charge arrangements cannot substitute for a full-time Vice Chancellor empowered to take binding academic and administrative decisions. We thank the Ministry of Education and the Government of India for responding to our demand and appointing a regular Vice Chancellor.”
“We hope Dr. Shivaraj will build on this moment and take RGU to even greater heights — in research, infrastructure, faculty recruitment, and student welfare — for the overall growth of the state and the larger interest of our students,” he said.
While welcoming the RGU appointment, AAPSU has reiterated its demand for the immediate appointment of a regular Vice Chancellor at Arunachal Pradesh University (APU), Pasighat — the state’s own university and, as AAPSU has noted, the outcome of decades of the union’s advocacy. APU has been functioning without a regular VC since February 2026, despite the post having been advertised since August 2025.
“Now that the Centre has shown it can act on this issue at RGU, we expect the same urgency for APU Pasighat. The post has been vacant since February and advertised since August last year — that is too long for a state university to remain without a full-time head. We demand that a regular Vice Chancellor be appointed at APU before the commencement of the next academic session, so that admissions, academic planning, and administrative decisions are not left in limbo,” Taku said in a release.
