NEHU teachers blame VC for stopping allowance

SHILLONG: The NEHU teachers’ body on Wednesday blamed the vice chancellor for stopping the Hill Area Special Allowance (HASA) to employees who are entitled to it as per the acts and ordinances of the university.
Vice Chancellor S.K Srivastava had convened a series of emergency meetings of the academic council to have the OE 10 of the NEHU Ordinance repealed under which HASA is admissible.
The NEHU Teachers’ Association which met on Wednesday criticised VC for his stand on HASA.
As per the NEHU Acts and Statutes, there is no provision for repealing an ordinance. HASA was introduced in the university in 1995 with the view to attract brilliant and meritorious teachers and staff and retain them in the university for quality education and research. The NEHU Teachers’ Association feels that removal of HASA, following the obstinate agenda of the current VC, would hugely hamper the prospect of NEHU to become a highly competitive educational institute in this part of the country.
“Besides, the autocratic and whimsical attitude of the VC to strike down a legitimate incentive to NEHU employees to please bureaucrats in Delhi is not only demeaning to the office of the Vice Chancellor but also extremely detrimental to the interest of higher education in the region,” said a statement by the association.
It was further stated that the communication of June 12 by the MHRD revealed that Srivastava, by supplying manipulated information to Delhi, had claimed that the NEHU Executive Council has repealed the ordinance OE-10, which was never decided.
In every meeting, the employees had unanimously decided to maintain status quo on HASA, the statement said, adding, “It is because of this misinformation to MHRD, the letter from Ministry claimed that HASA is repealed.”