SHILLONG, Nov 5: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Tuesday asked NEHU Vice Chancellor Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla what steps he has taken to correct his style of functioning.
The party alleged that the VC’s style of functioning amounted to gross violation of the NEHU Act, ordinances and regulations during the appointment of the registrar and a deputy registrar. Further, it alleged that there was circumvention of norms in the appointment of faculty members in certain departments.
VPP finance secretary Danny Langstieh submitted a letter to Prof Shukla which is a follow up of their October 3 meeting held in the presence of party president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit and Shillong MP Ricky AJ Syngkon.
Langstieh told reporters the VPP has submitted a petition on their demands. He said they could not meet the VC personally to submit the petition as he was preoccupied and it was handed over to his personal assistant.
Langstieh said the VPP urged the VC to remove all the illegal appointees and appoint Pro-Vice Chancellors in NEHU’s Shillong and Tura campuses. He said they also asked the VC to remove the campus director in Tura.
“During an interaction with the students recently, our president had also made a similar appeal to remove the campus director and appoint the Pro-VC in Tura campus. But the VC is yet to positively respond to the request,” Langstieh said.
Meanwhile, the VPP in its letter submitted to the VC expressed dissatisfaction at his style of functioning.
“We had also advised you to appoint Pro-Vice Chancellors for Shillong and Tura campuses from among the senior faculty members belonging to the local tribal communities of Meghalaya and do away with the post of Campus Director for the Tura campus, an appointment you made which was extra-institutional,” the VPP’s letter read.
Langstieh said before the last meeting, they had written to the VC to give preference to local candidates during appointment for teaching as well as non-teaching staff.
“You chose to ignore our request thereby subverting local interests and aspirations. This action of yours is being viewed very seriously by the party and we have asked you to take corrective measures,” the letter further read.
“Our future course of action will be determined on the basis of the sincerity of your response,” it added.
