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Tezpur, In a dramatic development at Tezpur University, which has been under a complete shutdown for the last seven days, the senior most faculty member took charge as acting Vice Chancellor on Friday morning suo motu.
VC Shambhu Nath Singh, against whom the entire agitation has been going on since mid-September, called a meeting of the management board on Thursday afternoon and then appointed mass communication professor Zoya Chakraborty as pro-VC, after which the situation started changing rapidly.
Chakraborty refused to accept the role, and the Tezpur University United Forum, which is spreading the movement, decided to continue the indefinite strike of the central university in Sonitpur district of Assam.
The shutdown started on November 29.
The protesters are demanding Singh’s removal over corruption charges.
In a late night development, the entire university community came together and suo motu decided to invoke the Tezpur University Act, 1993, a senior professor said.
Accordingly, Dhrub Kumar Bhattacharya, the senior-most faculty member of the central university, took charge as acting VC with immediate effect, he said.
Bhattacharya, a professor of computer science and engineering, then wrote to the secretary of the department of higher education of the Union education ministry and apprised him of the latest developments citing relevant sections of the Act.
PTI has access to all the documents and letters exchanged since the BoM meeting on Thursday.
Speaking to PTI, a senior professor alleged, “During the protest we were waiting for something positive from the ministry, but it remained a mute spectator. In fact, the officers indulged in a nefarious game in collusion with VC Singh and appointed a Pro-VC yesterday.”
The faculty member said that the university is not ready to accept anything except the removal of Biradari Singh and since he has been absent from the campus for almost three months, an acting VC has taken charge as per the Act.
A protesting student said that the protest and ‘bandh’ will continue until the VC orders an inquiry into alleged corruption and other types of irregularities.
Students of Tezpur University have indefinitely shut down all services including all types of academic activities on the campus from November 29, forcing the administration to cancel all final examinations.
Tezpur University Teachers Association and Tezpur University Non-Teaching Employees Association have given their full support to the movement being carried out under the aegis of Tezpur University United Forum.
The university has been inactive for the last seven days.
On September 22, the VC walked away from the campus following an uproar in the university and an exchange of words between him and the students, leading to a situation where Singh had to leave.
At least 11 faculty members and senior officials have resigned either from their posts or from the university since the protests began in September.
The protesters say the evidence presented by stakeholders leaves no room for delay in conducting the investigation and allowing Singh to continue in his post undermines institutional integrity.
The situation at Tezpur University was tense since mid-September, with students accusing the VC and university authorities of not giving due respect to cultural icon Zubeen Garg, while the state was mourning his death.
The Sonitpur district administration later ordered a magisterial inquiry against the Tezpur University authority for allegedly insulting Garg.
A fact-finding committee constituted by the Governor of Assam to investigate allegations related to the functioning of the Vice-Chancellor also visited the university to investigate the matter.
Due to the indefinite shutdown, the TU administration canceled the upcoming term-end examinations and announced that these would be rescheduled to ensure that students do not suffer academically.
This is the first instance in the history of a central university that the academic program has been formally changed due to a student-led protest against an administrative head.
Apart from financial irregularities, the university staff are also protesting against alleged deforestation and ecological destruction carried out under Singh’s administration.
During his tenure, Singh had reportedly ordered the cutting of several important trees and bamboo groves, including yellow bamboo, an essential part of the campus landscape, under the guise of ‘beautification’.
He also initiated extensive grass planting activities throughout the campus, which many members of the university community described as environmentally unsound and superficial, especially in a tropical region like Northeast India.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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