Memo to Kovind alleges mismanagement by VC
SHILLONG: The North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) on Sunday submitted a memorandum to the office of the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, who is also the Visitor of the University, highlighting the alleged grave mismanagement, violation of Act and statutes and consequent rot in the system in NEHU under Vice-Chancellor, Prof. SK Srivastava.
In the memorandum, the NEHUTA pinpointed how in the last four years of the tenure of the incumbent VC, the budget, approved heads of expenditure and annual reports were never brought for  debate and discussion at the University court, while random wasteful expenditure were made in building, civil and electrical works without due procedure of tendering.
The NEHUTA also drew the attention of the Visitor to the fact that audit and annual reports were not being brought to the University court since 2015.
In the recently convened Court, which was convened after four years, budget has been placed without any logic and vision by putting more money on wasteful expenses of payment to outsourced security agency and for civil and maintenance works with a negligible proportion of sum for academics and research.
The NEHUTA termed such malpractices as a scheme of undermining and discouraging the academic ambience of the University by the current incumbent.
Flouting NEHU Act and Statutes with impunity, the Vice-Chancellor submitted the annual accounts and annual report to the Parliament without placing it before the Court, which has to be mandatorily placed at least once in a year, the memorandum said.
The NEHUTA alleged that the Vice-Chancellor flouted statutes concerning seniority and rotation and recommended juniors to be Dean by superseding the seniors and thereby filling up positions in University’s Executive Council with handpicked people.
The memorandum pointed out that the NEHU website does not exhibit updated statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations and it does not even display decisions and minutes of various statutory bodies. The level of inefficiency and neglect is evident from the Vice-Chancellor’s regular absence from the University which has affected the normal functioning of the University so much so that record number of emergency meetings of Executive Council and Academic Councils were convened far exceeding numbers of regular meetings of these councils.
The NEHUTA recalled that it had called for a boycott of the convocation in 2018, as it was convened without the statutory court meeting and passage of results of students in the court meeting.
The NEHUTA further raised its deep concern at the failure of Vice-Chancellor in convening the meetings of Board of Research Studies, a statutory board to oversee research, which affected research negatively.
Combined with all other violations, the Vice-Chancellor created a sense of academic disaffection and to hide it, he attempts to suppress teachers’ body, students’ body and even non-teaching body. The NEHUTA demanded immediate steps from the high office of the Visitor to reclaim the past glory of the University. The NEHUTA demanded an external review on the functioning of NEHU in recent years by a team of experts to find out the truth as it was done in the case of some other Central Universities like BHU, Allahabad University or Tripura University.