Non-teaching staff to strike from Monday over recruitment delay
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 1: The North-Eastern Hill University, which is negotiating a crisis over demands for termination of the services of the registrar and deputy registrar, is set to face further trouble with the NEHU Non-Teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA) on Friday announcing an indefinite pen-down and tool-down strike from November 4 to protest the unprecedented delay in recruiting people for the posts advertised last year.
The NEHUNSA had set an October-end deadline for the university authorities to publish the syllabus and the date of the written exam.
“We decided to cease work from November 4 during the general body meeting of the association on October 29 after the varsity authorities failed to expedite the recruitment process despite several communications and reminders for a year,” NEHUNSA general secretary, JP Nongbri said.
The advertisement for the posts was published on November 3, 2023.
Nongbri said they are protesting to pressure the authorities to fulfil their demands.
He said the National Testing Agency (NTA) was supposed to conduct the recruitment but it told the university on July 16 that it would be unable to do so.
“The university floated an expression of interest and marked September 30 as the last date of submission. Even after a month, not a single agency has been allotted responsibility to conduct the recruitment,” he said.
Nongbri said the university administration is being run by a handful of regular staff. “The university may come to a standstill if the recruitment is not done, thereby jeopardising the education and career of the youths in the state,” he added.
He said the NEHUNSA members, as responsible stakeholders, who not want the only central university in Meghalaya to crumble due to the “inefficiency” of the administrative head.
He also said the NEHUNSA is concerned about the delay in the process of promoting the deserving staff who have served the university for more than 10 years.
The NEHU Students’ Union and the NEHU Teachers’ Association are up in arms against the alleged dictatorial attitude of NEHU Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla and the gross violation of the university’s Statutes and Acts.
Both NEHUSU and NEHUTA have been demanding termination of the services of Registrar Colonel (retd) Omkar Singh and Deputy Registrar (Academics) Amit Gupta over their alleged incompetence and their controversial appointments.