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The Shipping Ministry has named Malini Shankar, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Maharashtra cadre, as the Vice-Chancellor of Chennai-based Indian Maritime University, reinforcing her stature as the ‘go-to’ person for the government on key maritime matters.
Malini Shankar is also the Chairperson of the National Shipping Board (NSB), a post to which she was appointed in April this year. NSB is the top advisory agency to the government on shipping-related matters.
During her career, she held the post of Director General of Shipping, the country’s maritime administration, and superannuated in December 2018.
Malini Shankar’s term at the IMU will be for five years or until she attains the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier, according to the appointment order issued by the Shipping Ministry on July 16.
Her appointment will give a much-needed direction to the University, which has been ‘head-less’ for close to three years and help put the discredited institute set up through an act of Parliament, in order.
The IMU currently has six campuses located at Chennai, Mumbai, Kandla, Kochi, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam. Most of these campuses are headed by the director in-charge of the campuses.
The IMU started functioning from November 14, 2008 after integrating the existing seven maritime academic institutions: National Maritime Academy - Chennai, TS Chanakya - Mumbai, Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advanced Maritime Studies & Research - Mumbai, Marine Engineering Research Institute - Mumbai, Marine Engineering Research Institute - Kolkata, Indian Institute of Port Management - Kolkata, and National Ship Design & Research Centre - Visakhapatnam.
IMU saw five VCs in the last 12 years, none of whom completed their tenures after being entangled in corruption cases or other issues.
“IMU lost its way in the absence of a stable administrator who could understand the pulse of the shipping industry, and this affected the growth momentum of the University,” an industry official said.
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