Shillong, Feb 4: Prof Sumarbin Umdor has rejoined as the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Shillong campus of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
Umdor had resigned as Pro VC on December 15 under pressure from faculty and student groups who questioned his appointment by under-fire Vice-Chancellor Prof PS Shukla. However, his resignation was not accepted and state Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui had urged him last month to resume charge. In Shukla’s absence and after the resignation of other senior faculty, Umdor was the senior-most official left at NEHU.
Umdor said that he recently met Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Rymbui. In his absence, the university’s PhD, postgraduate and undergraduate results could not be declared and much administrative work was kept pending.
“The people in the state government whom I met urged me to rejoin and they assured me to take up the matter with the Centre,” he said, adding that he had quit after failing to get clarity on his role. He had also expected Shukla to be removed but that did not come to pass.
As NEHU is a central university, it falls under the Union Ministry of Education, with the state government having little to no role.
Umdor, who has been at NEHU for over two decades, also informed that on January 19 he attended a meeting of the Education Ministry in New Delhi, where he was also urged to resume his role as Pro VC. Seeing students and staff suffer with the continuing administrative crisis also convinced him to again take up the role of Pro VC.
He pointed out that in the university there are around 50 programmes and departments and about 5,000 students and another 70,000 studying in affiliated colleges.
This year is also crucial as it is the fourth year since the four-year undergraduate programme was introduced, which led to new things being rolled out under the curriculum and necessitates someone being at the helm of the institute.
Shukla’s five-year term is slated to end this year and the Education Ministry appears to be waiting out the period. Intense protests led Shukla to flee Shillong at the end of 2024 and he has been trying to run the varsity by remote control ever since.
The continuing crisis has led to NEHU losing 42 percent of its recurring grant and student confidence in the university has taken a blow, Umdor said. He urged all stakeholders to try and resolve the issues at hand once and for all.
Having a central university in the state is a blessing for people coming from poor backgrounds and the whole society should come together to restore the institute’s past glory, Umdor added.
