Visva Bharati serves show cause to Prof who filed FIR against V-C

KOLKATA: The Visva-Bharati University has issued a second show-cause notice to a professor, who had lodged an FIR against the vice-chancellor, asking him to explain how he could make statements to the media about the case against the V-C.

Professor Manas Maity of Physics department had lodged an FIR against V-C Bidyut Chakraborty at Santiniketan police station on June 12 for allegedly insulting and humiliating him and some other faculty members by making some "unsavoury comments" against them at the meeting.

The Central university on Monday asked Maity to explain how he could make statement about filing of the FIR against the V-C.

A varsity source said Maity was asked to reply within three days. Meanwhile, the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) on Monday alleged that the Visva-Bharati authorities are pursuing vendetta politics against Maity for filing an FIR against the VC.

Alleging that the V-C has issued a gag order against teachers and other employees, forbidding them from making any statements to the press, JUTA general secretary Parthapratim Roy said in a statement: "Only those who are willing to sing the Vice-Chancellor's praises in public will be allowed to do so."

"Others will be silenced through the use of charge- sheets, show-cause notices, and so on," JUTA said.

"Vice-Chancellor's charges against Professor Manas Maity, for allegedly saying uncomplimentary things at the meeting of June 8, are completely unfounded, since Professor Maity did not even speak at the said meeting," it added.