The vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (VC-BHU) is the chief administrator, and a full-time salaried officer of the Banaras Hindu University. The vice-chancellor derives their powers from sections 7(B) and 7(C) of the Banaras Hindu University Act (BHU Act) and from the statutes of the said act.

Although the chancellor of Banaras Hindu University, preceding the vice-chancellor, is "head of the university" under the BHU Act, it is only a titular position. The vice-chancellor is the principal executive and principal academic officer of the university. She or he is the ex-officio chairperson of the Executive Council, the Academic Council, and the Finance Committee of the university.

Applications for the appointment of vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University are invited openly by the Ministry of Education, which shortlists candidates interviewed by its search committee. The shortlisted candidates are recommended to the President of India. Upon their satisfaction, the president appoints the vice-chancellor. Per the BHU Act, vice-chancellors of the university have a three-year tenure in the office. They are, however, eligible for a second term of appointment upon expiration of the first term with preferably not more than 67 years of age. The maximum age for holding the office is 70 years. When a vice-chancellor leaves office by the means of retirement, resignation, death, or ill-health, the rector assumes the office as officiating vice-chancellor to avoid interregnum.

During the British Indian and Indian Dominion administration, the appointments were made by the Governor General.

There have been 29 vice-chancellors since the establishment of the university. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi was appointed as the 29th Vice-Chancellor in July 2025, and took charge on 1 August 2025.

Chronological list The vice-chancellors of Banaras Hindu University, in chronological order, are as follows: + Vice-Chancellors of Banaras Hindu University Image Name Period of office Remarks 1Rai Bahadur Sir Sunder Lal

CIE1 April 191613 April 1918 Founding vice-chancellor Sir Sunderlal Hospital in the university named after him 2Sir P.S. Sivaswami Iyer KCSI CIE13 April 19188 May 1919 Presided as the vice-chancellor at university's first convocation 3Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Bharat Ratna29 November 191920 August 1939 Served for more than 19 years Founder of the university 4Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Bharat Ratna17 September 193916 January 1948 Served for more than 8 years 1st Vice President of India, later went on to become 2nd President of India 5Amarnath Jha Padma Bhushan27 February 19485 December 1948 6Pandit Govind Malaviya 6 December 194821 November 1951 Alumnus of the Banaras Hindu University Youngest son of university founder Madan Mohan Malaviya 7Acharya Narendra Dev6 December 195131 May 1954 8Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer KCSI KCIE1 July 19542 July 1956 9Veni Shankar Jha Padma Bhushan3 July 195616 April 1960 10N. H. Bhagwati16 April 196015 April 1966 11Triguna Sen Padma Bhushan9 October 196615 March 1967 12A. C. Joshi1 September 196731 July 1969 13Kalu Lal Shrimali Padma Vibhushan1 November 1969 31 January 1977 Alumnus of the Banaras Hindu University 14Moti Lal Dhar2 February 197715 December 1977 First and only Kashmiri Pandit to hold this position 15Hari Narain Padma Shri15 May 197814 May 1981 16Iqbal Narain19 October 198129 April 1985 17R. P. Rastogi30 April 198529 April 1991 18C. S. Jha1 May 199114 June 1993 19D. N. Mishra8 February 199427 June 1995 20Hari Gautam2 August 199525 August 1998 21Y. C. Simhadri31 August 199820 February 2002 22Patcha Ramachandra Rao20 February 200219 February 2005 Alumnus of the Banaras Hindu University 23Panjab Singh3 May 20057 May 2008 24D. P. Singh8 May 200821 August 2011 India Today-Nielsen ranked the university best in India 25Lalji Singh Padma Shri, FNA, FASc22 August 201121 August 2014 Alumnus of the Banaras Hindu University Undertook various reforms in the university Voluntarily received only a token salary of ₹ 1 per month 26Girish Chandra Tripathi27 November 201426 November 2017 Banaras Hindu University women's rights protest during his tenure 27Rakesh Bhatnagar28 March 201828 March 2021 28Sudhir K. Jain Padma Shri7 January 20227 January 2025 NIRF ranking of the university dropped from third to sixth after five years 29Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi1 August 2025Incumbent Worked previously at the university.

Timeline

See also

List of Banaras Hindu University people

References