CDLU names biotechnology professor as interim law chief

Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) has assigned the additional charge of Chairperson of its Department of Law to Prof Raj Kumar from the Department of Biotechnology, according to an official notification dated January 13, 2026.

The appointment takes effect immediately and would continue until further orders. Prof Raj Kumar would retain his existing duties while also overseeing the Law Department on an interim basis.

This is the second consecutive occasion on which the university has entrusted the Law Department’s leadership to a faculty member from outside the department. Earlier, Prof Umed Singh from the Department of English and Foreign Languages was given additional charge on June 18, 2025.

The decision comes amid an ongoing inquiry in the department and follows a series of administrative changes. In June 2025, the university removed Prof Ashok Makkar from the additional charge of Chairperson of the Law Department. He had assumed the role in April 2025 after Prof Mukesh Garg was removed. Prof Makkar continues to serve as Dean of the Faculty of Law.

University sources said Prof Makkar was relieved of the additional responsibility after a part-time faculty member submitted a complaint on May 27, 2025, alleging misuse of authority to influence a departmental inquiry into academic and professional misconduct.

CDLU Vice-Chancellor Prof Vijay Kumar said inquiries were currently under way in the Law Department and that appointing professors from outside the department was intended to ensure a fair process. He said the arrangement would remain in place until the inquiries are concluded.

Meanwhile, legal experts said the repeated appointment of non-law faculty to head the department has raised concerns under the Bar Council of India Legal Education Rules, which stipulate that the head of a law department must be a professor of law with experience in legal education.