Saiyid Hamid

30.12.2014, 5 p.m.

Just returned after attending the funeral of Saiyid Hamid (1920-2014), former I.A.S. officer, former Vice Chancellor, AMU, and former Chancellor Hamdard University. My friends, HRA Suhel, Senior Advocate Supreme Court and High Court, Gajanand Sharma,a senior Railway officer, and Asif Azmi, a businessman and social worker,all AMU Alumni, accompanied me. A massive crowd, including the Vice President of India Hamid Ansari attended.

 Saiyid Hamid was the Vice Chancellor of AMU from 1980 to 1985. It is said about him " Sir Syed made AMU, and Saiyid Hamid saved it ".

 When Saiyid Hamid became the Vice Chancellor in 1980, AMU was in shambles, hooliganism and netagiri were prevailing everywhere, and teaching work was in a terrible condition.

 Saiyid Hamid immediately set about to end this sorry state of affairs. He rusticated the goonda elements. He got the University hostel vacated,where these goonda elements had been staying for 15-20 years, ostensibly as students of some diploma course, but in reality to do netagiri, some of whom had occupied 3 or 4 rooms forcibly and were such a terror that no one had the courage to take action against them.

 Saiyid Hamid was of the view that a University is a place for learning, and not to do petty politics. Consequently he took strong steps to restore AMU as a great seat of education, and it was principally due to his efforts that today AMU is once again renowned throughout the country and the world as a great centre of learning, where the standard of education is very high.

 When he joined AMU many good teachers had gone on deputation to foreign countries to earn petro-dollars. He immediately recalled such teachers and told them to teach in AMU. Consequently the standard of teaching in AMU went up.

 Before he joined, many AMU  departments had chairpersons for 15-20 years, and had started regarding their departments as their fiefdom, where they could appoint and promote their favourites. He stopped this,and introduced the rotation system on these posts.

 My friend, Gajanand Sharma, a senior railway officer,and an alumnus of AMU, who accompanied me to the funeral ,told me that whatever he is today is because of Hamid Saheb, since he could get good education in AMU because of what Hamid Saheb did

 Today AMU was closed as a mark of respect to his memory