Allegations against HoD of Philosophy Department
SHILLONG: In an act tantamount to academic highhandedness, the Head of Philosophy Department, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) has refused to register the PhD synopsis of Dipanjali Das a research scholar of the Department on arbitrary grounds.
Dipanjali was allotted a supervisor, Dr. L. Lenka who felt he was not comfortable to supervise her field of research. She then requested the HoD Dr. B.K. Agarwala for a suitable change of supervisor and Dr. Lenka forwarded her application to the HoD. But Agarwala took it as an affront and claimed that rules did not permit a change of supervisors.
The faculty of the Philosophy department however thought differently. In a faculty meeting in which Dr. Agarwala was not present (NEHU rules allows the senior most faculty to act as HoD when the latter is absent). Dr. Xavier Mao was appointed the supervisor. Dipanjali worked on her synopsis under Dr Mao. But Agarwala in a high handed and illegal manner maintained that a supervisor once appointed cannot be changed. He kept issuing unnecessary notices and letters to Dipanjali thus causing her mental agony. When this correspondent spoke to Dipanjali she was very disturbed and wept inconsolably.
Other faculty members of the Philosophy Department claim that Dr. Agarwala has been running the department like a dictator and has been calling emergent meetings only to take decisions, though the practice in NEHU has been of regular faculty meeting to decide all matters.
Since 2013, Dipanjali has been running from pillar to post to get her PhD registered. Her research subject is on Contemporary Indian Philosophy: Vivekananda’s notion of humanism. The faculty of Philosophy Department said Agarwala has tried to misinterpret all the ordinances and rules to thwart Dipanjali’s aspiration.
When this correspondent contacted Dr. Agarwala he said he was not authorised to speak to the media. He said the reasons why Dipanjali’s PhD is not registered can be obtained from the Information Officer after which he abruptly disconnected the call.
Dipanjali claims that Dr. Agarwala ill-treated her and told her to remain, “within the limits of a woman.” She appealed to the Vice Chancellor who appointed a Committee to examine the matter. The committee concluded that supervisors can be changed and advised the HoD to call a faculty meeting to resolve the matter.
Dr. Agarwala refused to call the meeting until Dipanjali approached a student body to intervene. Following that Agarwala called a meeting and appointed Dr. Vanlalnanghak as the supervisor thereby ignoring the earlier faculty decision of appointing Dr. Mao. Even after Dipanjali accepted this illegal decision the HoD has been using delaying tactics and is not fixing a date for her pre-registration seminar which is mandatory.
There are several instances in the past too when senior professors have harassed lady research scholars. Earlier the Women’s Cell in NEHU was keeping a close tab on such cases. Now women research scholars and students and even some women faculty members said they feel orphaned.