Vice Chancellor of the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Prof PS Shukla on Friday appealed to the Joint Action Committee (JAC) not to go ahead with its indefinite strike without verifying the status of their charter of demands so that the academic atmosphere in the university is not affected.
In a statement, Prof Shukla has exhorted that the university during the current period is in the peak of academic activities with syllabus coverage and examinations scheduled during the first part of December and disruptions in the form of indefinite strikes and protest without verifying the facts will hamper these activities affecting the academic atmosphere of the university.
“The University appeals to the concerned to come across the table, discuss and verify on the status of the points raised and the steps taken by the university rather than going out and protesting without updating on the same as the protesting groups are also part of the university and are aware of the progress and steps taken by the university on the charter of demands,” he said.
He said this will help the university to function normally and deliver our tasks which is for the academic and overall benefit of our students in general having amicably sorted out the issues concerning the implementation of NEP 2020.
“Any disruptions at this time of the academic year will disturb not only the timely completion of syllabus but also the smooth conduct of examinations which concerns the students community for which the university is primarily established for,”Prof Shukla added.
Under the banner of the JAC, the NEHUTA, NEHUNSA and NEHUSU on Thursday decide to intensify their ongoing agitation by calling for an indefinite strike from November 13, as a mark of protest against the NEHU VC’s adamant and non-responsive attitude towards their 9 charter of demands.
They include the immediate removal of illegally appointed technical officer/senior consultant, immediate appointment of Statutory Officers and University Engineer, deteriorating condition of the University Health Centre, relieving of teaching and technical staffs from ministerial duties, re-upload of NEHU Act, Statutes and Ordinance in the NEHU official website, holding of regular convocation, marking system, inclusion of elected members of NEHUSU as representative in the Academic Council and review of Educationally Backward Area Quota from Block Level to Village Level.
Responding to the demands of the protesting groups, the Vice Chancellor stated that “he has clarified the position on the appointment of Mr Rohit Prasad during the press conference held last week”.
He futher added that “As far as the appointment of Statutory Officers and University Engineer are concerned, the interview for the posts have been slotted for November 20 and 22, 2022 and the preparation for the same is ongoing.”
About the other demands, the Vice-Chancellor said, “concerning the university Health centre, committee has taken appropriate steps and the required purchases have been started from the portal as per the mandate of Government of India, the approval to which accorded on 1st November itself. For the purchases and procurements in different academic departments and sections of the university, GeM portal is adopted and three trainings-cum-exposure sessions have already been conducted to sensitize the staff on the purchases through GeM. The university have listed and registered more than 50 secondary users and more are in the process with a statutory officer of the university registered as a primary user in the GeM portal”.
Regarding the demand on the relieving of the teaching and technical staff from ministerial duties the Vice-Chancellor stated that “the Teaching staffs performing additional duty in the administration is for smooth transaction of routine work of the university so that university functioning does not get delayed and the teachers will be automatically relieved once the posts are filled up for which the requisite advertisement and recruitment process is ongoing. Also, that the teaching faculty with their consent only are requested to undertake additional responsibilities and the university is grateful to them for their cooperation in helping with the administrative work”.
As far as the Non-teaching staff given additional responsibility in the administration are concerned, they have been executing their responsibilities even before his joining, he added.
“As far as the statutes and Acts matters are concerned, the same are available in the university webpage in the section about the university and making issues out of non-issues can only tarnish the image of the university and concerned are appealed to verify the facts before declaring them as protest agenda” the NEHU administration said.
The administration also stated that the University Convocation is a routine work for which the consent and schedule of the Chief Guest and Chancellor are important and the required correspondences have been made since the beginning of the year to get the dates finalised for which the Ministry is yet to confirm.
Furthermore, the Marking System in the university examinations is a policy decision adopted as per the NEP 2020 regulations and any amendments required thereon has to be placed in the Academic Council.
The Vice-Chancellor also clarified that “The University teachers are the main stakeholders of the Academic Council where the discussion on issues related to Marking System, Inclusion of Elected Members of Students as representatives in the Academic Council, Admission process along with weightages given in admission are discussed and policy decisions are taken as deemed fit and beneficial for all concerned”.
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