JNUTA submits dossier with allegations of 'misgovernance' against V-C Kumar
New Delhi: As tensions between the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) and the administration flared up on Monday, the five-member delegation from the JNUTA submitted a dossier listing serious allegations of 'misgovernance' against Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar.
The JNUTA dossier specifically mentioned a public inquiry conducted in October 2017 where evidence was presented with respect to seven charges against Kumar, which included violation of statutory provisions, undermining the integrity of the faculty selection process, gross errors in the admission processes leading to massive seat cuts, harassment of teachers and denying them their rights, destruction of the GSCASH, promotion of autocracy and the display of what the JNUTA called an "extremely callous attitude" towards the disappearance of student Najeeb.
The teachers' association docket also noted that the V-C did not agree to change his way of administration even after that teachers had voted against the extension of his tenure in a referendum held in August 2018. JNUTA secretary Surajit Mazumdar said that the dossier also had a list of decisions taken by V-C Kumar, which purportedly resulted in adverse reactions from courts and even sometimes went against a court order.
The teachers' association also said that the V-C had a tendency to favour a certain section of the faculty while "penalising everyone else", which had also contributed to the current atmosphere in the campus, according to the teachers.
In fact, senior professors of the university have even said that the V-C has had a history of serious appointment irregularities when it came to appointing teaching faculty. Some other faculty members have alleged that Kumar had twisted the recruitment processes to essentially consolidate recruitment powers to his office.
According to Mazumdar, the V-C had undermined the functioning of several institutions like the Academic Council and the Executive Council by compromising the recruitment process. He said that in some appointments teaching positions were filled by applicants who had 'little to no knowledge' in the concerned field. For instance, a senior professor said that the administration had decided to appoint a faculty member to the School of Korean Studies without any knowledge of the language.
Mazumdar added that the subject experts chosen in the Selection Committee are also being picked by the V-C indirectly by ignoring the panel of experts prepared by the concerned Centre and approved by the Academic and Executive Councils.
According to professors, at the beginning of his tenure, the V-C had allegedly tried to manipulate the recruitment process but faced dissent from Executive Council members and even subject experts on the Selection Committee.