SHILLONG, May 7: The North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association called off its scheduled protest on Tuesday after the Vice Chancellor called the association for a meeting to discuss the long-pending issues they had been voicing.
However, after the meeting, NEHUTA president Lakhon Kma said that the VC has agreed to address the two issues regarding long-pending CAS cases from all stages, including from Stage 5 to 6 (senior professor), and the opening of envelopes concerning the correction of the date of promotion of faculty members.
However, Kma also added that the VC was non-committal about the main issue of arbitrary appointment/reappointment of Deans of various schools, violating the NEHU Statute and the established practice of appointment of Deans by rotation according to seniority, specifically in the department of social sciences.
Kma said, “Never has it happened in the history of NEHU that one person is being offered deanship twice, when there are so many professors waiting for their turn. It has to be done based on seniority. When this was brought up, the VC had no justification at all.”
As per the rules and regulations, the fixed tenure is also three years; however, for the concerned appointment in the social sciences department, it is very arbitrary, and there is no fixed tenure, as per Kma.
Kma further said that they have waited for the last three years, so they agreed to wait until July 30. However, for the arbitrary appointments, the NEHUTA will meet on Friday to further discuss the matter and initiate necessary action.
