Not a day passes without some confrontation or the other being reported out of what was once a premier university of North East India – the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU). It started with the appointment of the last Vice Chancellor, SK Srivastava during whose tenure NEHU’s fall from grace began. A day after the end of his tenure in July 2021, SK Srivastava conducted a meeting of the Executive Council and took several decisions which the NEHU Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) terms as illegal. All these acts are carried out with the collusion of the then registrar. The present Vice Chancellor, Prof PS Shukla was appointed the new VC on July 22 by which time the term of Prof S.K Srivastava as VC had ended. But the Registrar of NEHU did not announce the appointment of Shukla as new VC, thereby allowing for an illegally conducted meeting to happen. What Srivastava did was to appoint one Professor in the slot reserved for the senior-most Professor as a member of the Executive Council. The actual senior-most Professor was arbitrarily denied the place and the list of seniority too was grossly violated by the ex-VC.
The problems of NEHU did not end with the outgoing Vice Chancellor. Problems continue to plague NEHU even under the current Vice Chancellor, PS Shukla. Going against all norms practised by former VCs keeping in mind the local ethos, Prof Shukla appointed a retired Army Colonel, Omkar Singh as Controller of Examinations by keeping out qualified, academically experienced and intellectually sound candidates of tribal and ethnic origins from Meghalaya. This is nepotism at its worst since Omkar Singh has no extra credentials other than being a retired army colonel who according to the NEHUTA does not have the grace, dignity and sensitivity needed to administer an academia. Managing the office of Controller of Examinations requires special skills that are not taught in the army and this person has no experience of working in any institution of higher education. The question is why was such a person appointed in the first place? The lack of experience resulted in the delay in declaration of results.
To add salt to injury the NEHU VC, Prof Shukla later appointed Omkar Singh as Registrar, NEHU, a post held by people of eminence in the past including IAS officers. It was under the watch of Omkar Singh that there was total pandemonium at the time of the CUET undergraduate examination in NEHU on May 15, 2024 thereby proving that he was not equal to the task. From all accounts it would appear that the Colonel believes he can run NEHU like a military brigade. No wonder the shrill protests from all quarters. Is this the way to run a premier institution of higher education? A letter of complaint has gone to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) from NEHUTA. It’s time for the PMO to take prompt, necessary action.
