Shillong, Sep 14: The North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) has expressed concern and alleged that Vice-Chancellor Prof PS Shukla, who has been away from Shillong since trouble erupted at the university late last year, is trying to interfere in the day-to-day functioning of the varsity.
According to a release from NEHUTA leader Lakhon Kma, the association is thankful to the Union Ministry of Education for visiting NEHU twice after the students, teachers, non-teaching staff, etc revolted against Shukla’s alleged mismanagement of NEHU. The mismanagement, he said scathingly, “was attributed to his incompetence, nepotism, favouritism and narcissistic behaviour”, which ultimately led to him being declared persona non grata by the students, teachers and other staff of the university and the community at large.
The ministry team’s visit on May 22 resulted in normalising the situation in NEHU to a certain extent. It was agreed that the Executive Council (EC) meeting of May 30 in Delhi would be the last meeting chaired by Shukla and he would gradually fade away from NEHU, never to interfere in the university’s affairs again, Kma said. However, Shukla has started interfering in the functioning of the university once more, undermining the discussions and agreements made with the ministry. He also continues to be the public face of NEHU, at least at events outside the state.
NEHUTA has urged the Pro PVC of the Shillong campus to perform his duties as per the NEHU statute. The association is against any meeting of the EC or any statutory body being chaired by Shukla and insists that, as per a ministry instruction from 2024, that all official meetings of the university, including meetings of the EC, Finance Committee and other statutory bodies, should be conducted within the NEHU premises.
NEHUTA has condemned Shukla’s supposed interference and has urged the central government to remove him immediately to “save NEHU from his mismanagement”.
