New Delhi: Professor Rajeev Kumar of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has written to President Droupadi Murmu, alleging harassment by the university administration for the past 42 months in relation to a misbehaviour complaint filed against him.Although the university norms prescribe that an inquiry of such nature should be completed in a month, the matter has been pending against the professor since February 2020. A faculty member in the university’s School of Computer and Systems Sciences, Professor Rajeev fears that his post-retirement benefits may be withheld citing a pending inquiry against him. He is set to retire in March 2024.He was earlier hailed as an “unsung hero” by the Supreme Court for his contributions towards bringing transparency in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) held by the Indian Institutes of Technology, by unearthing financial and academic malpractices during his tenure at IIT Kharagpur in 2006.Professor Rajeev joined the JNU in 2015 when the current University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar was its vice-chancellor. The inquiry was instituted against Professor Rajeev in February 2020, during the tenure (2016-22) of Jagadesh Kumar.The professor’s letter to the President seeks to convey that he was targeted by Jagadesh Kumar for exposing irregularities in the JEE in 2006, given that the latter served as a member of IIT’s Joint Admission Board (JAB) from 2006 to 2008. At that time, Professor Rajeev was with IIT Kharagpur and Jagadesh Kumar was a faculty member at IIT Delhi.“The roots of this matter go back to 2006 when the JNU’s former Vice Chancellor, Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar (currently Chairman UGC), was a member of IIT’s Joint Admission Board (JAB) from 2006 to 2008, and I, as a Professor of IIT Kharagpur, discovered wide-spread irregularities and inaccuracies in IIT-JEE admissions; the Hon’ble Supreme Court appreciated my efforts to reform the system, hailing me as an unsung hero. In retaliation, I have been persecuted by the JNU admin since joining (of) Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar (former faculty, IIT Kharagpur, Delhi) as the Vice-Chancellor,” Professor Rajeev presents his case to the President, according to The Telegraph.After Professor Rajeev’s public interest litigation in 2011 in the apex court, IITs made several changes like allowing candidates to take back carbon copies of their answer sheets.Professor Rajeev alleges that he is being targeted by delaying the probe instituted against him because of exposing irregularities in the conduct of JEE. He says there has been no relief in the case even after Jagadeesh Kumar stepped down as VC in January 2022 and the current VC Santishree D. Pandit took over.The allegations against Professor Rajeev are that he misbehaved with two external experts during a Board of Studies meeting in January 2020. The experts had accused Professor Rajeev of raising his voice and also making some personal remarks against them. One of the complainants subsequently withdrew his complaint. As regards the second complainant, Professor Rajeev says, he was not eligible to attend the meeting because he was a retired faculty member.The professor has written to the President several times, but there has been no respite. The President has forwarded his letter to the education ministry for necessary action whilst seeking a status report on the matter. The education ministry, in turn, has said to have forwarded it to the university administration, but still awaits a response.