JNU Teachers Association Questions Delay in Appointment of University VC, Asks to Appoint Full-Time VC

 

Digital Desk: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) condemned institutional harassment of teachers on Tuesday. The JNUTA has also spoken out against the JNU administration’s and Delhi Police’s inaction.

The teacher’s organization asks the Ministry of Education to end M Jagadesh Kumar’s ‘illegal prolongation’ as temporary vice-chancellor of JNU. They also requested that JNU be given a full-time Vice-Chancellor.

The JNUTA, in a press release, stated, “The Vice-Chancellor is an essential post in the university system. Despite this, JNU, one of the country’s best universities, has been operating without a full-time Vice-Chancellor for nearly a year. In addition, new appointees have been made at several other Central Universities with similar vacancies. Therefore, what explains the delay in the case of JNU?”

“Vice-Chancellors whose tenures are legally over are explicitly prohibited from making policy choices of a substantial kind, according to Ministry of Education directives and provisions of JNU’s own statutes. Nonetheless, the Caretaker Vice-Chancellor is rushing through critical policy decisions that would have far-reaching ramifications for JNU in the long run, without any discussion.” It added.

The JNUTA further alleged that despite several requests, there was no financial help provided to faculty to purchase teaching aids by the university.

“On the teaching front, while the university moved to online teaching during the Pandemic – despite several requests, there was no financial help provided to faculty for purchase of teaching aids by the university. In addition, no institutional subscription was provided to faculty for any online platform wherein bigger classes could be easily accommodated.” it stated.

“To top it off, the Caretaker Vice-Chancellor ignored faculty groups’ requests for a study of online teaching and learning. Furthermore, he took no steps to guarantee that professors were properly compensated with additional earned leave for working without a break for the previous two years.” the report added.

“Financial bottlenecks due to administrative incompetence have caused many regular academic and outreach programs to suffer enormously, and many faculty members have had to confront cutbacks in research financing.” the association added.

“This financial mismanagement has also resulted in a catastrophic deterioration in the housing facilities provided for faculty members (for which they pay rent), with roofs practically collapsing on tenants’ heads and water leaking being commonplace.” the statement continued.

The caretaker vice-chancellor’s behaviour, such as muting the microphones of members of the Academic Council and faculty members to prevent them from speaking, was harshly criticized by JNUTA.

According to the teachers’ union, “The Delhi High Court has also called out the VC’s illegalities in the selection of Chairpersons, but the VC continues to brazen it out by simply ignoring university protocols in administrative matters. His practice of muting microphones of those who raise questions about his way of working during meetings of statutory bodies, his willful distortion of minutes and records of proceedings, and last-minute introduction of important agenda items so that they can be rushed through illegally, as well as the orchestrated bullying of those who do show the integrity to stand up to illegalities, has become a well-known pattern of behaviour adopted by the administration led by him.”

“The campus security situation has also deteriorated, as seen by recent acts of aggression against two female students. The recent spate of burglaries on campus has strengthened the case for Security being removed from the university’s payroll. Despite this, the Vice-Chancellor has taken no action against Cyclops for failing to perform essential tasks. Prof Jagadesh Kumar has decided to run the university according to his own whims and fancies. In several of its decisions, the Delhi High Court has specifically mentioned the vice-chancellor’s misdeeds, raising severe concerns about his administrative mismanagement. However, he has substantially disregarded the court’s directions.” JNUTA added.

Further, the JNUTA questioned the Education Ministry, asking, “Who is responsible for the less than satisfactory performance of the university over the past one year; can a Caretaker Vice-Chancellor be allowed to run the university according to his own personal whims and fancies; can the Ministry afford to remain silent in such a situation on the illegalities committed by the Caretaker Vice-Chancellor in JNU; and finally, when and how will the Ministry act on the illegalities committed by the Caretaker Vice-Chancellor in JNU.”

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