NEHUTA condemns remark

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG, JUNE 17: The North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) today condemned the remarks of the pro-vice chancellor for alleging the teachers of attempting to destabilize the university’s normal function.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, NEHUTA president Prof XP Mao said, “We feel that it is the pro-VC not NEHUTA, who is trying to divide NEHU community so as to succeed in hiding the manipulative/forging act of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor and get some special consideration for himself.”

He also questioned whether the pro-VC considers the pointing out of wilful manipulation of minutes as the destabilizing activity?

NEHU Pro-VC Henry Lamin in a statement yesterday had accused the NEHUTA, which is demanding to retain Hill Area Special Allowance (HASA), of trying to destabilize the normal functioning of the University.

Terming the language used by Prof Lamin as extremely offensive, Prof Mao however said, “We sympathize with Prof Lamin for his conspicuous silence on VC’s forgery and the VC’s being at the receiving end of the reprimand from the Ministry of Human Resources’ Development (MHRD), but as teachers our language cannot go so low as Prof Lamin’s.”

Alleged that Prof Lamin in 2009-2010 had vigorously fought against the illegal removal of HASA, Prof Mao said now he (Lamin) assumes the role of a wilful collaborator to the act of removal and that too on the basis of a forged document.

He said that the gross misrepresentation that university has lost 26 crores due to payment of HASA is an example of mis-statement, as the fact is that the University refunded an unutilized amount to the tune of 50 crores during previous year, showing incompetence and inefficiency of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor.

This is how the University administration is spreading post-truths in the public domain so as to hide VC’s forging of minutes of Executive Council.

Interestingly, the Pro-VC also has been a member of the Executive Council whose minutes are forged, of which he has no explanation, being a party to it, he said.

Recent grading of “A” By NAAC of the University is an academic contribution by all the members of the teaching community and not of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-VCs.

“By forging documents and by being a subject of reprimand of the MHRD, the VC has lost his moral and legal right to continue,” Prof Mao said.

He alleged that the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU Prof SK Srivastava has been indulging in systematic and wilful distortion and misrepresentation of facts on the issue of HASA.

“He (VC) reported to the MHRD that the Executive Council of the University has resolved to ‘humbly accept’ the directive of the Visitor thus removing HASA,” he said.

According to him, but in actual fact the Executive Council only referred the matter to the Academic Council which promptly resolved to maintain status quo on the issue of HASA.

The NEHUTA therefore condemns in the strongest possible terms such shameful manipulation of the minutes of one of the august bodies (the Executive Council) of the University.

“By remaining mum on Vice-Chancellor Prof SK Srivastava’s forgery one can understand the over-enthusiasm of the Pro-Vice Chancellors of NEHU in standing by the Vice-Chancellor, as their term is only for two years and any further extension would depend on the pleasure of the Vice-Chancellor,” Prof Mao said.

Meanwhile, the NEHUTA requested right-thinking individual to understand that the fight is not merely about HASA but about protecting the sanctity and dignity of the University and its statutory bodies.