Demanding for a fair and impartial probe into the allegations against North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) vice chancellor Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla, the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) has said that the inquiry committee instituted to probe should immediately visit the university.
In a letter to union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan the AISEC said it welcomes the constitution of an inquiry committee to probe on the specific allegation against the vice chancellor but the two-member panel should not delay in visiting the university and address the grievances of all the stakeholders.
The Education Ministry had constituted a two-member committee headed by former University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Prof. D P Singh and former Assam University vice chancellor Prof. Dilip Chandra Nath to inquire into the alleged mismanagement and administrative failures within NEHU.
“There are serious allegations that the VC in NEHU is recruiting unworthy persons with RSS background as teachers and key officials, much to the resentment of the local people and academic community. Such VCs do little to improve the academic and infrastructural development in the university, and fail to address the problems of the students, teachers and non-teaching staff,” the AISEC president Prakash N Shah said.
Stating that there is a strong public sentiment in the Northeastern states that the central government imposes mediocre persons who cannot even communicate properly as the vice chancellors in the central universities Shah said, “Those who have no idea of the history, culture and sensitivities of the people, are sent as the VCs with a political mission. They are used only to impose the central government’s policies like NEP 2020 without bothering about the consequences of hasty implementation of the same in the resource crunch states.”
The AISEC said that it finds the UGC’s cut in financial allocation to central universities for infrastructural and human resource development is also adversely affecting the academic performance of the university.
Expressing concern over the health of the students who were on hunger strike that went on for 16 days till it was suspended yesterday, the committee said, “Though the hunger strike is now withdrawn, agitation of students continues. Hence, we expect that the committee will not delay in visiting the university and addressing the grievances of all the stakeholders.”
Further, it also called on the centre to improve the quality of higher education in the Northeast by providing adequate funds and by appointing honest and qualified academics as the vice-chancellors.
