Shillong, Nov 6: The North-Eastern Hill University Students’ Union (NEHUSU) and the NEHU unit of Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) have decided to continue their ongoing total shutdown of the university campus and indefinite hunger strike till the removal of Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla.
The student bodies are unhappy that the VC tried to defend the appointment of the registrar and two deputy registrars while addressing the media.
NEHUSU general secretary Toniho S Kharsati told reporters they had expected that “good sense” would prevail upon the VC and he will terminate the services of the illegal appointees.
“We are now firm that we will continue our protest till Delhi removes the VC who is not competent to head the university,” he said.
Kharsati said the VC had the time to attend a book fair and address the media at the Shillong Press Club to try to save his image in the eyes of the public but he is not bothered to visit the students who have been on an indefinite hunger strike since Tuesday evening.
Stating that the NEHUSU had submitted two memorandums to the VC, one in September and the other recently, he said, “We had clearly spelt out the difficulties and grievances which the students are facing.”
The NEHUSU general secretary stated that one of the points they mentioned was the appointment of the Pro-VCs in the two campuses which was highlighted also by the previous body of NEHUSU in its memorandum submitted in 2022.
Stating that Prof Shukla claimed he had formally written to the ministry concerned on the appointment of the Pro-VCs, Kharsati asked the VC when he had written the letter since the demand was pending since 2022.
“Now, the VC is saying that he will write to the ministry again and if there is no response within December 2024, he will appoint two Pro-VCs for Shillong and Tura campuses from the local communities. We suspect that this is a knee-jerk reaction of the VC to make this commitment following the protest by the students,” the NEHUSU general secretary said.
He asked if Prof Shukla can appoint the Pro-VCs on his own, then why he cannot terminate the services of the registrar and the deputy registrars.
Kharsati also mentioned that the expert committee, which had made the appointment, is headed by the VC himself.
“The VC is contradicting himself since the reality is that he is trying to shield the incompetent illegal appointees,” Kharsati said.
NEHUSU president Sandy Sohtun said they will not allow people, who are “incompetent” like the Registrar, Colonel (retd) Omkar Singh and the Deputy Registrars, to remain in the university.
He said the Registrar, who served in several positions in the Army, does not deserve to remain in this position as he does not have the necessary experience to handle administration.
Sohtun said the VC appointed the retired Army officer as the Registrar even after he had failed miserably to perform as the Controller of Examination as reflected in his failure in the conduct of CUET examination in the university.
The NEHUSU president said one of the Registrars, Amit Gupta, was declared not eligible as per the employment notice issued on April 13, 2023 for recruitment to the position of Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar during the time of former Registrar (in-charge) Prof AS Dixit.
“But the same person was selected for appointment as the Deputy Registrar during the recruitment process held in January which was initiated by the current Registrar. It has raised a serious question on how a person who was not eligible is appointed as the Deputy Registrar,” Sohtun said.
He said Amit Gupta’s incompetence was clearly reflected in his letter written to all the heads of the Department of Academics.
KSU’s NEHU unit president Shibaitlang Rymbai slammed Prof Shukla for allegedly insulting the students of the university by appointing incompetent people to run the administration.
“We will not move from here until he is removed as the VC,” Rymbai said.
The classes in NEHU were totally disrupted on Wednesday due to the total shutdown of the campus by NEHUSU and KSU’s NEHU unit to protest the VC’s failure to remove the Registrar, the two Deputy Registrars and other illegal appointees.
The students are continuing their indefinite hunger strike outside the premises of the university’s Academic Block. Members of NEHUTA, MeTTA-NEHU and NEHUNSA were present on the premises of the Academic Block to give their moral support to the protestors.
Doctors and medical staff from the university are monitoring the health of the protesting students.
