By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 16: In a major development at the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Sumarbin Umdor on Monday tendered his resignation from the post of Pro Vice-Chancellor, Shillong Campus, with immediate effect from the afternoon of December 15.
In his resignation letter addressed to Vice-Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla, Prof Umdor stated that he has handed over charge to the Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor, Fameline K. Marak, in accordance with university norms.
Explaining the circumstances leading to his decision, Prof Umdor said that over the past year, during the continued absence of the VC from the university campus and Meghalaya, the responsibility for the day-to-day functioning of the university rested with him in his capacity as Pro VC of the main campus.
He stated that despite sustained opposition from students and various associations to the Vice-Chancellor’s involvement in university affairs, efforts were made to ensure that academic and administrative matters were handled smoothly and responsibly, including the timely conduct of end-of-semester undergraduate and postgraduate examinations.
Prof Umdor highlighted several key achievements during his tenure, including meetings of the Academic Council, completion of long-pending promotions of teachers under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) at Levels 11 and 12, promotions of non-teaching staff through the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), making a 100-seater girls’ hostel with the creation of 24 additional hostel seats operational, finalisation of recruitment advertisements for non-teaching staff, compliance with court directives, and progress on various academic and administrative matters.
He also noted that the campus hosted several national-level academic programmes, including the Smart India Hackathon 2025, enhancing NEHU’s academic visibility and student engagement. Referring to financial challenges, Prof Umdor said the university faced a 42% reduction in UGC recurring grants for the financial year 2025-26. He said austerity measures, rationalised deployment of resources, and revision of examination fees were undertaken to stabilise the university’s finances and safeguard the wages of temporary staff.
Prof Umdor further pointed out that the university is currently at a crucial stage in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, including the introduction of new curricula, internships, vocational components, and MOOCs. He said the NEP-UG programme has progressed to its fifth semester and that CUET-based admissions for affiliated colleges were successfully conducted for the first time in Meghalaya.
He also referred to a recent campus accident in which two students were seriously injured, stating that the administration provided necessary support to the affected families and initiated steps to strengthen campus safety.
However, Prof Umdor noted that decisions taken in the routine discharge of academic and administrative responsibilities were increasingly being contested, resulting in delays and disruption. He said repeated attempts to convene meetings of the Executive Council under the chairmanship of the VC, despite strong opposition from students and staff associations, contributed to unrest and vitiated the campus atmosphere.
He said his suggestion to allow the Senior Pro VC of the Tura Campus to chair Executive Council meetings until outstanding issues with stakeholders were resolved was not accepted. He stated that the prevailing situation had already resulted in the resignation of the Registrar and the Finance Officer, who were senior faculty members holding additional administrative responsibilities.
Stating that he had concurrently discharged multiple responsibilities over the past two years, including Controller of Examinations, Finance Officer, Chairman of the Central Admission Committee and the Pro VC, Prof Umdor said that under the prevailing circumstances, marked by the absence of essential support systems and persistent uncertainty over key institutional decisions, it had become impossible for him to discharge his duties effectively.
“I sincerely hope that the university will regain stability and continue on a path of progress for the benefit of its students and the larger community,” he said, adding that NEHU was established for the welfare of students and the people of the region.
On Monday, four major stakeholders of NEHU—the NEHU Students’ Union, NEHU Teachers’ Association, NEHU Non-Teaching Staff Association, and the Khasi Students’ Union, NEHU Unit—jointly appealed to Prof Umdor to resign in the larger interest of the university.
In a joint petition, the organisations expressed serious concern over what they described as his inability to function in accordance with assurances given by representatives of the Ministry of Education in the presence of Executive Council members and representatives of students and teachers.
They alleged that the continued failure to act in line with these commitments had prolonged uncertainty and eroded confidence among students, teachers and staff.
