Open locked doors and come for talks: VC to students, teachers
SHILLONG, Oct 27: The NEHUSU will write to Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, urging him to look into the state of affairs in the university, especially the alleged incompetence of Registrar, Col (retd) Omkar Singh.
NEHUSU president, Sandy Sohtun on Sunday said the letter will be emailed to Rijiju on Monday.
He said they would submit similar letters to Governor CH Vijayashankar, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, and Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma.
Sohtun said the students’ body would continue to demand the removal of Singh as the registrar.
Sources said the NEHU Non-teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA) will hold its general body meeting on Monday to decide whether or not to support the demand for the registrar’s removal.
On Friday, the NEHUSU and the university unit of the Khasi Students’ Union closed the office of the university registrar and even chased him out of his chamber.
The students’ bodies want Vice Chancellor, Prabha Shankar Shukla to terminate the service of Singh as “he is not fit and competent to hold” the position of the registrar.
Earlier in the day, the members of NEHUSU and NEHUTA boycotted the 113th Academic Council (AC) meeting after the VC refused to accept their demand to keep Singh out of the meeting.
The NEHUTA alleged that the VC appointed Singh as the controller of examinations by keeping out qualified, academically experienced and intellectually sound candidates of tribal and ethnic origins from Meghalaya.
Accusing the VC of importing a candidate without any experience in academic administration or credentials to be the controller of examinations, NEHUTA president Lakhon Kma stated that Singh was later appointed as the NEHU registrar. He said Singh’s incompetence as the supervisor of the CUET centre in the university resulted in “total mayhem” during the CUET undergraduate examination on May 15.
Ready for talks: VC
The vice chancellor, meanwhile, said he would not speak anything beyond the laid down rules and regulations of the university and asked the members of NEHUSU and NEHUTA to open the locked doors first and come to the discussion table for an amicable solution.
“We would like to discuss and amicably solve all the problems. I am always ready to discuss. They can come for discussion after first opening the doors,” he told The Shillong Times.
“Anybody can enquire. Things were done as per rules and regulations. The Act clearly states the provision of the AC, which is only for academic matters. I don’t know why the others will raise everything in the AC,” he said.
He said about the incident: “The matter was about the postponement of the Academic Council, which was done. I don’t know why they locked the room of the registrar and deputy registrar without any letter or information on Friday afternoon.”
“Everybody is an independent citizen of the country and people can express their concerns but must inform the administration before taking any action,” he added.
On the accusations, the VC said the University Grants Commission framed the rules for the teachers and students. “Why are people not following the rules?” he asked, adding that he is ready to face an inquiry if it is proper.