Poll duty for staff of NEHU baffles many

TURA, Jan 25: The West Garo Hills district administration’s direction to a few politically affiliated employees of the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) to join election duty has raised many an eyebrow.
The elections to the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly are scheduled on February 27.
A retired faculty member questioned the “unethical” poll duty for the politically affiliated employees, wondering if it would ensure free and fair elections as mandated by the Election Commission of India.
Central universities such as NEHU allow their faculty members to be associated with political parties. There have been provisions for even MLAs to continue teaching under the condition that only one salary – either that of an MLA or of a university teacher – can be drawn by a public representative.
“It has come to the light that several teaching faculty members of NEHU Tura campus have been put on election duty. This happened despite the fact that NEHU teachers enjoy the privilege of joining a political party or expressing their politically coloured views,” the retired NEHU lecturer said.
He cited a few NEHU teachers joining politics and political parties.
“Some notable faces are professors B. Pakem, R.C. Laloo, H. Lamin and J. Mawthoh. From the Tura campus, there is the example of the late Jova Marak who contested the elections. This privilege is enjoyed by the teachers of all central universities in our country,” he said.
The former lecturer said it was sad that the district administration was either unaware of this fact or ignored the political affiliation of NEHU employees.
“The administration should assign election duty to only those teachers who declare themselves to be politically unaligned,” he added.
He further said such an “oversight” had never been committed by the district authorities in the past.
West Garo Hills DC Swapnil Tembe said the matter is currently under investigation and more information would be available after a review.
“We are examining the conduct rules applicable to them. According to the central and state service rules, no government employee can be a member of a political party. We will examine the case and take a call,” he said.