Penam Laboratories Limited based in Delhi has contributed to create an endowment fund of Rs: two crores (Rs.2,00,00,000) for instituting Two Chair Professors in the name of Prof. Goverdhan Mehta at the University of Hyderabad (UoH). Dr. Parasnath Pandey, Managing Director, Penam Laboratories, who was a student of Prof. Mehta and also the first post-doctoral student (1978) of the University of Hyderabad is instrumental in making this contribution as Guru Dakshina to Prof. Goverdhan Mehta. The MoU was signed by Dr Devesh Nigam, Registrar of UoH and Mr. Vikas Pandey (S/o Dr. P N Pandey), Executive Director of Penam Laboratories Ltd. on 14th July 2023 in the presence of Prof. B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, UoH; Mr. Ashish Ajmani, Executive Director, Penam Laboratories, Dr. Srinivas Reddy, Director, IICT; Prof. Ashwini Nangia, Dean, School of Chemistry, UoH; Prof. MJ Swamy, Prof. N Siva Kumar, Dean, School of Life Sciences, Prof. Samrat L Sabat, Director, Research and Development Cell and Prof. Mehta students viz. Dr. Veera Reddy, Dr. MS Reddy, Dr. Vidya Ramadas, Dr. O Srinivas, Dr. Ramesh and Dr. Y Srinivasarao.

 

 

“University of Hyderabad is very happy to receive a large donation from the industry for the first time. This donation will augment our ability to identify excellence and nurture the same. We thank Penam Laboratories for this generous offer and hope they would continue to do the same in the future too”, said Prof. B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, UoH.

The details of the Chair are:

  1. Prof. Goverdhan Mehta Chair Professorship: For one regular faculty of School of Chemistry. The tenure of the selected chair will be for a maximum period of 2 years.
  2. Prof. Goverdhan Mehta Visiting Chair Professor: For renowned eminent scientists/professors (India or abroad) in Chemistry. A maximum of two visitors, sequentially, in a Calendar year can be appointed. The term for each visiting chair will be a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of three months.

The above said two chairs will operate under the School of Chemistry, UoH.

 

 

Prof. Goverdhan Mehta is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Foreign Member, Academi Royal des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Belgium. He is also a Fellow of all the three Science Academies in India and Third World Academy of Sciences and was the President of INSA. He is a recipient of Padma Shri Award from the President of India and has been conferred with “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” by the President of France and the “Cross of the Order of Merit” by the President of Germany.  He was Assistant Professor at IIT, Kanpur, 1970 – 1976 and was Professor at the University of Hyderabad, 1977 – 1998 and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, 1994 – 1998. He was invited to be the Director of the prestigious IISc from 1998-2005. Prof. Mehta was CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow from 2005 – 2010 and a National Research Professor from 2009 – 2014. He is University of Hyderabad Distinguished Professor presently and held the Eli Lilly-Jubilant Chair (2010-2016) and Dr. Kallam Anji Reddy Chair (2016-2022) at School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad. Professor Mehta has authored more than 560 research papers. He is a recipient of over 40 Honorary Doctorates from India/abroad and over 50 medals and awards nationally and internationally.