Academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Thursday was named the new vice chancellor of Ashoka University in Sonepat, Haryana. He is the second individual to hold the post at the fledgling varsity and will take charge from July 1.

Mehta currently holds the post of president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research in the Capital. He has also been a lecturer at Harvard University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the New York University School of Law.

The scholar was in news in August last year when he had stepped down from his position as an Executive Council member of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Mehta is believed to have taken the step after former bureaucrat Shakti Sinha’s name was shortlisted for the director’s post. He had alleged that the library’s reputation and integrity were being compromised.

Professor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, who served as the vice chancellor of Ashoka University since 2014, will be appointed the varsity’s next chancellor once Professor Andre Beteille’s three-year tenure ends.