The non-teaching staff of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) have decided to go on indefinite strike from November 4 to protest against the unprecedented delay in the recruitment process for the posts that were advertised on November 3, 2023.
In its general body meeting held on October 29, the NEHU Non-teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA) said that time and again communications have been sent to the vice chancellor to expedite the process of recruitment but the communication seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
“The recruitment was supposed to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) but unfortunately, NTA has communicated to the University on July 16, 2024 that it is not in a position to conduct the recruitment. Following this, it is duty bound on the path of the university to float Expression of Interest and the same was done for which the last date of submission was on September 30, 2024. Now even after a month, not a single agency has been allotted responsibility to conduct the recruitment,” NEHUNSA said in a statement issued by its president W R Synrem and general secretary J P Nongbri.
Further, NEHUNSA has given a deadline to the vice chancellor that the syllabus for the recruitment and the date of the written exam should be published, latest by the end of October, 2024. “Failing to publish the aforementioned notification, we are forced to go for an all-out indefinite pen-down and tool-down strike from November 4 to pressurise the authority to fulfill our demands,” it said.
The association said that the NEHU administration is being run by a minuscule number of regular staff and if the recruitment is not done there is a high probability that the university will come to a standstill, thereby impeding and jeopardising the educational prospects and career of the youth in the State.
“NEHUNSA, being a responsible stakeholder, does not want to see the only Central University in Meghalaya crumbling due to the inefficiency of the administrative head,” it said.
NEHUNSA also expressed its concern over the delay in the promotion process of the deserving staff who have served the university for more than ten years. “This failure and delay is solely to be blamed on the inefficiency of the administrative head,” it said.
It also said that the general body meeting has also resolved to support NEHUTA and NEHUSU in their ongoing demands and a letter of support has been sent to the two associations respectively.
