Shillong, 18 March- In an attempt to fill the existing leadership gap at the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), stakeholders have appealed to the Ministry of Education to appoint the senior-most professor as acting Vice Chancellor (VC) immediately. The move comes against the background of the absence of the incumbent VC, Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, from work for 135 days on leave.
A meeting was organized on Monday at the university to bring together multiple stakeholders, ranging from representatives of statutory associations like NEHUTA, NEHUNSA, and NEHUSU, Deans of Schools, and university administration. The meeting ended with an agreement to issue a formal letter to the Ministry of Education calling for the appointment of a senior professor as acting VC in response to Prof. Shukla’s prolonged leave.
Pursuant to the NEHU Act, Statute 2(A) 5(i) and Statute 2(B)(2), when there is no normal VC, the most senior professor must hold office as acting VC. Members attending the meeting were keen on calling upon these provisions to help fix the leadership vacuum, with the current crisis in the university serving as reference. The lack of an effective VC has impacted NEHU considerably, particularly as the financial year comes to a close, there are exams ongoing, and other critical issues are pending.
The session also covered the apprehensions regarding the functioning of the university on a day-to-day basis in the present scenario. It was decided that no official communications—either hard or soft copy—must be forwarded to the VC when he is on leave. Moreover, any instruction given by Prof. Shukla in this regard was considered null and void and was not to be implemented.
NEHUSU president Sandy Sohtun addressed journalists following the meeting, condemning strongly the VC’s efforts to run university affairs remotely from Guwahati through WhatsApp. Sohtun labeled this practice as “unacceptable” and continued that the student community and university unions strongly opposed Prof. Shukla’s reasons for his extended absence. He noted that during Shukla’s tenure, the university had gone without a Pro-VC for four years and had not held the university convocation for three years—problems that had seriously affected the operations of the institution.
The president of the union added that the VC’s failure to address student concerns had led stakeholders to unanimously decide that Prof. Shukla must not resume on campus. Sohtun explained that the absence of leadership has been adverse to both the students and employees, and now there is a need for an acting VC.
The crisis at NEHU has also shed light on the governance problems in the university, with many important decisions and operations grinding to a halt due to the lack of a permanent figurehead. As tensions mounted, the call for the Ministry of Education to act immediately has been the center of attention of the university’s stakeholders, all seeking to break the impasse and bring back normalcy to the institution.
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