SHILLONG, July 27: With a new Vice-Chancellor taking charge after nearly two years of unrest, NEHU teachers have demanded an immediate end to the ‘illegal’ culture of shadow administrations and backdoor appointments.
The North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) on Monday laid out an extensive roadmap for administrative and academic reforms, expressing confidence that Prof SK Barik’s leadership would help restore normalcy at the university.
Soon after meeting the Vice-Chancellor, NEHUTA president Prof Lakhon Kma said the association was encouraged by Prof Barik’s familiarity with the institution, having served NEHU as a student, researcher and teacher,and hoped the long-pending issues would now be resolved in a time-bound manner.
The teachers’ body identified the appointment of a legitimate Registrar-in-Charge and Finance Officer-in-Charge as its foremost priority, while also urging the immediate discontinuation of the “camp office”, which it said has no legal sanction under the NEHU Act, Statutes, Ordinances or UGC Regulations.
NEHUTA president also called for recruitment to vacant non-teaching posts, pointing out that the university has become heavily dependent on contractual and outsourced employees following years of retirements without replacement.
The association further pressed for the clearance of pending faculty promotions under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS), appointment of a regular Dean for the School of Social Sciences, and restoration of a transparent administrative system.
It also sought a review of the Tura campus construction works, alleging that the projects were awarded without following the mandatory tendering process through the Central Public Procurement (CPP) portal, and urged the Vice-Chancellor to initiate fresh tenders.
Other issues highlighted included the regular conduct of convocations, appointment of a regular Director for the ICSSR North Eastern Regional Centre, selection of a part-time Chief Vigilance Officer through a transparent process, and amendments to the university statutes to remove ambiguity in the appointment of deans.
Stressing that the university needed a “fresh start”, Kma said the association had urged the new Vice-Chancellor to put in place a new administrative team and address the issues that had remained unresolved during the previous administration.
He said NEHUTA was ready to extend full cooperation to the new Vice-Chancellor to restore institutional stability and revive NEHU’s academic and research environment.
