Shillong, Sep 16 : The Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising the North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA),
North-Eastern Hill University Non-Teaching Staff Association
(NEHUNTSA) and North-Eastern Hill University Students’ Union
(NEHUSU), held another protest against university Vice-Chancellor Prof SK Srivastava here today.
A ‘protest walk’ was held in front of the NEHU administrative
block after securing permission from the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner and while maintaining Covid-19 protocols.
Srivastava’s five-year term is set to end on September 23 and the JAC is determined that he not be granted an extension in his post, citing Srivastava’s alleged failings while being in charge of NEHU, which, in the JAC’s eyes, include not convening meetings of the university court to discuss the annual report, annual accounts and audit report in due time; having minutes of statutory bodies neither uploaded online nor finalized on time tied with manipulations of minutes of the Executive Council; Board of Research Studies never convened in last five years; audit report never presented before the university court; failure to fill vacancies in teaching positions; removing two Heads of Department during the pandemic and appointing junior professors as Deans.
Another “glaring misdeed” is the alleged failure of Srivastava in getting a new Chancellor for the university because, the JAC claimed, the VC did not want a superior over him so that “he gets a free hand in acts of wheeling-dealing, much to the detriment of NEHU…We can only surmise that Srivastava deliberately ensured that there is no Chancellor so that his irregular actions” are not subject to checks and balances.
“The JAC further states categorically that concerns of financial mismanagement and corruption, academic and administrative impropriety by Prof SK Srivastava reached such an extent that it requires a detailed probe and action needs to be initiated without any further delay,” a press release signed by JAC Chairman Xavier Mao and Secretary B Sten said today.
