SHILLONG:
NEHUTA, NEHUNSA and NEHUSU under the banner of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Sunday expressed willingness to talk on their charter of demands on condition that the illegally appointed technical officer/senior consultant is removed.
In a statement, JAC chairman Prof Lakhon Kma said, “Once the illegally and illegitimately appointed technical officer/senior consultant is removed, JAC might be ready to talk on our charter of demands provided there is seriousness and willingness on the part of the VC in resolving the issues in a time-bound manner.”
The JAC’s offer comes after the NEHU Vice-Chancellor, Prof PS Shukla, had appealed to it not to go ahead with the indefinite strike without verifying the status of its demands.
Kma, however, accused the VC of making false claims on the JAC’s charter of demands and said, “He (VC) has neither provided to the JAC any clarifications on the issues raised in our press conference held on November 8, 2023 on illegal appointment of technical officer/senior consultant and steps taken to remove him, his violation of Model UGC’s Cadre Recruitment Rules, NEHU Act and Statutes and Ordinances and other serious violations nor send any formal letter for talk with the JAC.”
“Amidst this turmoil in the University, instead of being in the University and finding ways to resolve the matter, he is out of the station enjoying holidays till November 15. This shows the absolute lack of seriousness on his part to resolve the issues on an urgent basis. Perhaps, he likes to play with the careers of our students and spoil the academic atmosphere of the University by habit,” he said.
JAC chairman continued: “In order to avoid disruption of classes, he should have been in the station, shunted his insensitivities towards the welfare of the University and avoided the adamant and non-responsive attitude towards the genuine demands of JAC, which has forced it to start the indefinite strike starting from November 13.”
On the issue of the appointment of statutory officers and University engineers, Kma said, “If the proposed date of the interview has been fixed as appeared in the news, it is only because of pressure from JAC.”
Condemning the VC for accusing the JAC of making issues out of non-issues, he asked whether the illegal appointment of technical officer/senior consultant was a non-issue. He said by illegally appointing him through an act of nepotism and favouritism, the VC has denied the Right to Equality as per Article 14 of the Constitution to eligible educated unemployed youths of Meghalaya and beyond.
He also asked if violation of UGC Model CRR and violation of NEHU Act, Statutes and Ordinances was a non-issue. He (VC) is supposed to be the one guarding UGC and NEHU rules but instead, he is the first one to violate them on numerous occasions.
“Is the deteriorating condition of the University Health Centre a non-issue?” VC’s complete lack of concern and understanding that medicines cannot be purchased through JeM led to the delay in the procurement of medicines. His inaction on timely appointments made the testing facility close down because of a lack of lab. technicians required for it,” Prof Kma said while adding “Is re-upload of NEHU Act, Statutes and Ordinance in the NEHU Official Website a non-issue? As of 5 pm on Nov. 12, these are not present on the NEHU website which should be verified independently by the press by going to www.nehu.ac.in and trying to download any of these before publicizing this press release for confirmation.”
He also asked, “Is holding of Regular Convocation a non-issue? The reality is that the VC wanted X, Y, Z from Delhi, perhaps his political masters, and their non-confirmation led to the cancellation of the convocations, impacting the students and reaffirming his insensitivities towards students and NEHU in general.”
The chairman of the JAC said that after a long period of denial, the VC have realised that teachers are the main stakeholders of the Academic Council after they have started agitating, combining with other equally important stakeholders of the University non-teaching staff and the students.
“JAC would like to reiterate the VC is in a habit of telling a farrago of lies, half-truths and deceit, masquerading as a victim and trying to mislead everyone, but he is fully exposed by now,” he said while adding JAC’s earlier challenge is still valid for an open debate with the VC in presence of media and public on all these issues.
