By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 3: NEHU Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla on Monday officially resumed office from Delhi. As per reports, the VC called the acting Registrar of the university saying he has resumed his duties adding that he will be in Delhi for some official work from March 3-5.
The NEHUTA was livid over the claim of Prof Shukla that he has resumed duties from Monday.
“In the fifty plus years of NEHU, there has been no precedence of such a claim of resuming duty virtually when one hasn’t rejoined from earned leave that Prof Shukla has been availing for the last three and half months,” NEHUTA president Lakhon Kma said.
Kma accused the VC of flagrantly violating NEHU Act, Statutes, Ordinances and Government of India’s rules, despite being the custodian of the university.
“In spite of his repeated irregular earned leave application from which he never joined his duties, his claim that he resumed his duties sounds totally out of order, as he remains away from the headquarter. The fact remains that there had been an inquiry on his wrongdoings in the university and until the inquiry report was made public, he was advised to remain on leave,” Kma said.
“We find that the claim is misplaced and it betrays all procedures and rules of the university, especially in the context of a totally errant VC like Prof Shukla, who brought NEHU down to the lowest by his wrongdoings, for which the inquiry was conducted,” Kma said.
It may be recalled that senior-most professor, Nirmalendu Saha assumed charge as the Acting Vice Chancellor of the crisis-riddled NEHU after Prof Shukla went on leave till November 29.
In his leave application submitted via email to the NEHU Registrar, Prof Shukla said he was leaving the campus on Earned Leave with effect from November 17, 2024 to November 29, 2024 which may be extended if required, “due to some unavoidable circumstances”.
Since then, Prof Shukla has extended his leave on several occasions, each time mentioning that it was due to some unavoidable circumstances.