By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: An official with NEHU filed a contempt of court case against NEHU and Vice Chancellor prof. AN Rai for allegedly preventing him from being appointed to the post of professor in the department of Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility (SAIF).
Though, the Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court in its recent judgment said that the selection process suffered from the vice of arbitrariness, illegal or non-application of mind, the delay in his appointment has prompted the official, Dr Sudip Dey, Senior Scientific Officer, Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility (SAIF), to file the contempt of court notice on February 19 after he did not get the result of the interview a day before.
However, when contacted an official from Prof Rai’s office in NEHU informed that the VC is presently in New Delhi and could not be contacted in his mobile as it remained unreachable despite numerous attempts.
When this reporter contacted the VC, he, however said that information can be gathered from his office.
It has come to light that the VC and his team of selection committee members violated UGC (University Grants Commission) regulation in an interview held on April 20, 2012.
Subsequently after a court case, the University was compelled to hold a fresh interview for the petitioner on February 14.
The post was that of the professor in the department of SAIF, which was advertised by the University on December 7, 2011. In reply to this advertisement, four candidates had applied out of which the sole candidate, Dr Dey appeared for the interview, since all others remained absent.
Dey who had eligible criteria had served for the last 29 years, published more than 100 papers in relevant field (Instrument Application) and guided 10 students for PhD degree on instrument oriented works .
In violation of UGC regulation, the selection committee denied selection of Dr Dey by not giving any weightage to his qualifications.
He moved the Court immediately and sensing illegality, the Shillong Bench, Gauhati High Court quashed the proceedings of the selection committee in its judgment order dated November 6, 2012 and directed NEHU to “consider afresh the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of professor” strictly in accordance with criteria and respective weightage as prescribed by the rules and regulations. NEHU held an interview for the petitioner on February 14, last but interestingly the interview board had one of the experts from the earlier selection committee. Dr Dey also filed RTI application to find out more details on the matter. Earlier, submitting the views of NEHU, its council K Khan had said that the candidate did not have required qualifications.
The court, however ruled, that selection committee did not maintain the score sheet nor did it give scores to the candidate on the basis of the criteria.