Officials from the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) today visited North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) and were told in no uncertain terms that Vice-Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla would not be welcome back to the varsity.
The delegation met with students, teachers and non-teaching staff to get a firsthand account of their grievances against the under-fire VC, who was the focus of intense protests against his running of NEHU until he left Shillong late last year.
During the meeting with the officials, the stakeholders from NEHU made it clear that they did not want Shukla to return to the campus.
The two central government officials on the inspection were Additional Secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal and Director Subrat Kumar Pradhan of the MoE.
“We had a good meeting with the faculty, deans, heads of department and I hope everything will be normal,” Barnwal said.
The two officials from the MoE met members of the NEHU Teachers Association (NEHUTA), NEHU Non Teaching Staff Association (NEHUNTSA), NEHU Students Union (NEHUNSA) and KSU NEHU unit.
NEHUTA president Prof Lakhon Kma said that it is untenable for Shukla to even think of returning to the campus. “A solution is still being worked out on how to resolve the matter because, apparently, they (MoE) are keen and even we also want to,” Kma said, adding that some modalities are being worked out but nothing has been finalised.
The NEHUTA president said that the association is positive after meeting the team from the MoE, because they are willing to find a solution to the impasse.
He also said that NEHUTA has made it clear that Shukla’s return to the university is not an option.
Last year the central government constituted an inquiry to probe the problems at NEHU. Today’s two-member delegation was asked about the status of the inquiry report and NEHUTA were told that the probe has been completed and the MoE is studying the report.
Meanwhile, NEHUSU said that they hope the visit of the officials would end up resolving the matter. “We hope that the visit of the officials will result in a positive outcome and be accepted by all the stakeholders of the university,” NEHUSU vice-president Ricky Deiburom Rabon said, adding that the university is functioning in a much smoother manner in Shukla’s absence.
After meeting the stakeholders, the officials of the MoE also inspected the university campus.
