JNUTA writes to Javdekar, demands VC's removal
New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) has written to Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar demanding to remove vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar from office. Moreover, on August 28, the teachers had raised question on the VC's functioning, that how he violated rules, turning the institute into a bureaucratic apparatus.
On August 7 in a referendum, a majority of teachers had voted in favour of Kumar's removal and in a subsequent General Body meeting, the faculty gave an ultimatum on September 5, which is Teachers' Day, as 'the last date of VC's removal'. The final results of the JNUTA referendum on the VC showed that 93 percent of the JNU faculty wants the VC to go and 96 percent is against the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) loan.
Undersigned by JNUTA president Sonajharia Minz and secretary Sudhir Kumar Suthar, the JNU teachers wrote to Javadekar, saying that "the experience of the last two and a half years has convinced them that professor Kumar is solely responsible for several acts of commission and omission on the part of the JNU administration which is destroying this premier public university."
The teachers alleged that they repeatedly tried to draw Kumar's attention to "adverse consequences for the institution' but their pleas were ignored by him. "He has instead misused the power of authority by intimidating and penalising members of the faculty through whatever means he can muster," said the letter.
JNUTA had conducted a public inquiry in October 2017, which found Kumar guilty on seven charges based on a mountain of evidence.
The letter further said: "Professor Kumar has broken down all deliberative processes in the university and reduced its authoritative bodies like the Academic Council to a farce. Through his top-down style of functioning he has tried to inflict a mindless regimentation and bureaucratisation of the University's academic life even as the essential elements of that life–like the library and viva-voce examinations are being throttled on the pretext of lack of funds."
