Two aggrieved groups have decided to make common cause and form a joint action committee (JAC) to save North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) from the “irregular acts of Vice-Chancellor Prof PS Shukla.
The JAC comprises the NEHU Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) and NEHU Non-Teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA), it was announced in a press release today.
The two groups expect that others will also join the JAC in opposition to the functioning of the VC.
Shukla has been under fire, though admittedly still with his supporters, over the way NEHU has gone about introducing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the state’s colleges, which will mean the introduction of four-year undergraduate courses.
NEHUTA has said that Shukla went over the heads of the varsity’s Academic Council (AC) in pushing through the implementation of the NEP this year.
Today, it described the VC as “autocratic, arrogant and abrasive” for not listening to the university’s elected statutory bodies.
Other allegations against Shukla include delay in appointing a Registrar and Finance Officer, irregular appointment of a staff member in the VC’s office, that he has done nothing to make the health centre functional or to fill vacant teaching positions, that he has tolerated corrupt officials and that the university is slow in clearing bills, etc.
The JAC has decided to pursue each of these points and to see that they are resolved in a democratic fashion.
