Centre silent on NEHU VC appointment

New Delhi, March 28: The Central government has continued to maintain silence on the issue of the appointment of next Vice Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank did not give specific reply to questions raised by the two Lok Sabha members from Meghalaya in Parliament.
“The post of Vice Chancellor, NEHU is lying vacant and as per provisions of the 1973 Act, the university has submitted a panel of names duly approved by the Executive Council for appointment of VC,” the Minister had said in reply to a joint question of Vincent H Pala and Agatha Sangma. The two MPs had raised the matter in the Lok Sabha which was adjourned last week.
The duo had sought details on the lingering issue but the Minister did not give any definite reply. He said out of the 467 teaching posts, 157 are lying vacant in NEHU and the Ministry has released the entire sanctioned amount of Rs 255.13 crore to the varsity.
The state government has completed all formalities and is awaiting the Centre’s nod to appoint Prof. Sherwin May Sungoh of the Department of Education as the VC of NEHU, the state’s Health Minister, AL Hek had said recently.
Incidentally, out of the five names empanelled for the post, three have been already appointed elsewhere. The demand for appointment of a tribal as the next VC has been supported by politicians, pressure groups and other associations, including the Khasi Students’ Union.