Shillong, Nov 13: The executive council (EC) of the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) will constitute an inquiry committee to be headed possibly by a retired High Court judge or an IAS officer, over the demands of agitating students.
The decision was taken by the EC in its meeting held on Monday where 11 out of the 15 members were present, NEHU Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla stated over phone to The Assam Tribune.
The EC has four members nominated by the President along with deans, senior professors, and the VC. The inquiry committee will be constituted by this week and its mandate will be to examine the demands of the students as per their letter submitted earlier.
The students are demanding removal of four officials from the university, claiming they are inefficient. "All the demands will be examined and a report will be submitted," Shukla said.
The VC appealed to the students to call off their hunger strike and come to the negotiating table. However, the students under the banner of the NEHU Students' Union and KSU-NEHU unit, have continued their hunger strike since November 5.
Notably, there were two attacks on Shukla's residence. In the last attack on Sunday morning, public property was damaged. However, the police have not been able to identify the attackers.
The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) on Tuesday shot a letter to Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking his immediate intervention to resolve the ongoing crisis in the NEHU.
This came in the wake of the indefinite hunger strike protest led by the North- Eastern Hill University Students' Union (NEHUSU), backed by the Khasi Students Union (KSU-NEHU unit), demanding removal of the incumbent Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, the Deputy Registrar and other officials. The university has been put under total lockdown as the protest entered the eighth day on Tuesday.
"The NESO strongly supports the above demands aired by the NEHUSU and the KSU NEHU Unit on behalf of the students' community as all the demands are legitimate and are of serious concern that seeks immediate rectification so as to once again raise the status of NEHU into prominence as was in the past. In fine, the NESO humbly appeals to your office to kindly intervene at the earliest so as to ensure that the quality of education in the region and the country is not compromised," NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said in the letter to Pradhan.
"The management of the university under the leadership of the current Vice Chancellor, Prof Prabhakar Shankar Shukla, and Registrar, Col Omkar Singh (retd), has reached an untenable state, with significant and alarming consequences for the academic standards, infrastructure, and reputation of the institution. The decline in the university's ranking is a stark reflection of the failure of the administration to fulfil its core responsibilities," Jyrwa added in the letter.
