Chandigarh, April 30 -- As many as 50 candidates have applied for the post of Panjab University (PU) vice chancellor (VC) so far, officials said on Wednesday. The last day for receipt of applications is May 5. The three-year tenure of VC Renu Vig ended on March 28, after which she was granted a four-month extension by PU chancellor and Vice-President CP Radhakrishnan. A three-member search committee was also formed by the chancellor to find Vig's successor. Amid speculation over whether Vig will seek a second term, insiders say she has not reapplied so far. The all-woman search committee is being chaired by retired Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, vice chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik. The committee includes Shashikala Wanjari, VC of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, and Vibha Tandon, director of CSIR Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, as members. The committee has been tasked with drawing up a panel of three to five names to be sent to the chancellor. According to officials wishing not to be named, among the names being discussed for the post of VC are Tankeshwar Kumar, VC of Central University of Haryana; Karamjeet Singh, VC of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar; S P Bansal, VC of Central University of Himachal Pradesh; Jaspal Singh Sandhu, VC of Lovely Professional University, who is also former VC of GNDU and a former secretary of the University Grants Commission (UGC); Suresh Sharma, VC of Shaheed Bhagat Singh State University, Ferozepur and Sanjay Kaushik , VC of Gurugram University, Haryana. From within Panjab University, those whose names are being discussed include Yojna Rawat, dean of university instruction; Anju Suri from the department of history; Rajat Sandhir from the department of biochemistry; and SK Tomar from the department of mathematics. According to university officials, the standard procedure following the application deadline involves the search committee calling selected candidates for an interaction session before arriving at a final shortlist to be submitted to the higher authorities. The said process is set to begin following the May 5 deadline. Despite the transition, VC Vig remains central to PU's policy landscape. She is currently part of the Union ministry of education panel, alongside former UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar and DU VC Yogesh Singh, tasked with evaluating the proposal to raise the faculty retirement age from 60 to 65 years. The committee's findings will be crucial in resolving the long standing administrative and legal deadlock over the issue....