Prabha Shankar Shukla, professor of GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand was appointed the vice-chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the Visitor of NEHU made the appointment on July 22 as per Statute 2 of the Central Universities Act, 2009 for a term of five years from the date on which the appointee takes office or until he attains the age of 70, whichever is earlier.
The tenure of the previous VC, Prof SK Srivastava, had ended on September 23, 2020. His tenure was extended for a year despite criticism from various quarters.
Prof Srivastava had assumed office on September 24, 2015.
Meanwhile, Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) has criticised the appointment of Prof Shukla stating it is an example of the “anti-tribal” attitude of the “Hindutva dispensation running the Union government.”
It would be better for Meghalaya if all central institutions in the state should come under the local reservation policy, it added in a press release today.
The government should have acknowledged and nurtured indigenous talent but instead went with another “non-indigenous upper caste” choice.
“NEHU in its long history has had only three tribal vice-chancellors and out of the three only one from Meghalaya, namely B Pakem. Of the rest, all of the vice-chancellors have been upper caste Hindus and, except for BD Sharma, whose solidarity with the tribal cause was well known, the rest have been disinterested in tribal social realities,” TUR said.
It may be mentioned that there were demands coming in from various organisations to appoint a homegrown local qualified professors from NEHU even as the Khasi Students Union (KSU) had suggested Prof. Sherwin May Sungoh to be the vice chancellor. Cabinet minister AL Hek had also publicly came out in support of Prof Sungoh and met several union ministers.
