The North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) has alleged that the outgoing vice-chancellor of the varsity, SK Srivastava a day after the end of his term conducted a meeting of the Executive Council of NEHU and passed several illegal decisions.
“After the appointment of Prof. PS Shukla as the new VC on July 22, the term of Prof. S.K Srivastava as VC had ended. But the Registrar of NEHU has not brought it out that Shukla is appointed as new VC. In spite of term of Prof Srivastva ending, the next day on July 23, Srivastava conducted a meeting of the Executive Council of NEHU and passed several illegal decisions to further damage the University,” NEHUTA said in a statement on Tuesday.
THE NEHUTA said that Srivastava is not entitled to preside over the meeting of the Executive Council on July 23 as, after July 22, he is entitled only to wait to hand over charge of the office.
“Instead of waiting to hand over the office, Srivastava passed several controversial resolutions that impact the tenure of the new VC,” NEHUTA president Xavier P Mao said.
“The outgoing VC has decided through the EC to appoint one Professor in the slot reserved for the senior-most Professor as a member of the Executive Council. The actual senior-most Professor is arbitrarily denied the place and the list of seniority is grossly violated by the ex-VC,” Mao said.
The NEHUTA as a watchdog statutory body of NEHU condemns such gross violation by the ex-VC, as neither has he had the statutory power to preside on the Executive Council nor he has any power to manipulate the seniority list, he said.
“When he is not entitled to conduct any recruitment, the EC resolved to outsource recruitment process for filling up 35 nonteaching posts. This is the wildest possible violation of the University’s recruitment rules by a non-empowered outgoing VC through EC of NEHU,” NEHUTA alleged.
Mao further alleged that the ex-VC, again through an EC resolution decided to advertise the post of University Engineer on a deputation basis, which is against the standard norms.
“The recruitment rules do not allow for filling up a permanent or term post without direct recruitment and only when direct recruitment cannot be done after due advertisement and procedures, recruitment on deputation could be done.
“This, we suspect, is done with an ulterior motive of keeping the post of University Engineer unfilled so that the Executive Engineer, who is now under CBI scanner, can remain a potential candidate for future filling up of the post on a regular basis. It is then amply clear that for narrow vested interests recruitment rules are flouted in the leadership of Srivastava,” said the NEHUTA president.
In his nearly six years of gross mismanagement of the university, these very last acts speak volumes on the nature of his regime, NEHUTA said.
“It is because of gross violation of Act, statute and rules in almost every academic, administrative and financial matter that the once premier university now plunged into an era of free fall. History shall also be unkind to those insiders who supported such failed and mismanaged regime of Srivastava,” Mao alleged.
The NEHUTA seeks a high-powered probe by the Ministry of Education in all these misdeeds of Srivastava and his sycophants so that skeletons are out of the cupboard.