Shillong, Jan 12: A delegation of stakeholders, including NEHUSU, KSU Unit, NEHUNSA, and NEHUTA, has moved Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, to ensure the Pro-VC of Tura campus reports to the Shillong headquarters. This request follows from Vice-Chancellor Prof. Prabha Shukla’s 422-day absence. The delegation has warned that if the Pro-VC fails to assume her responsibilities, she should step down, allowing the senior-most professor to take over as Acting VC.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting on Monday, President of the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) Prof Lakhon Kma said, “We have met the Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui to express our frustration as a university. There is no VC, no Pro-VC, no Registrar, no Finance Officer – nobody is there, and the university is running on autopilot mode with no one to take decisions.”
Kma said that statutory provisions clearly outline the succession process, with the Pro-VC assuming the VC’s duties in their absence. However, the current Pro-VC, Prof F Marak, has not reported to the Shillong headquarters despite being requested to do so.
“The onus is on her to come and perform the duty of the VC in the headquarters. If she doesn’t want to, she has to resign from the post of Pro-VC Tura campus,” Kma said.
The stakeholders had written to her 15-20 days ago, but she chose not to respond.
“The Education Minister has been urged to intervene and impress upon the Pro-VC to either assume her duties or resign, allowing the senior-most professor to take over as Acting VC,” he said.
“When she is the Pro-VC, she cannot say I will remain Pro-VC in Tura but I will not perform the duty in the headquarter because the statutory provision says that you have to perform the duty of VC when VC is not in station and we all know the VC is out of station for the last 422 days and enjoying full salary and we don’t know where he is staying,” Prof Kma added.
The North-Eastern Hill University Students’ Union (NEHUSU) and the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has also sought the intervention of the Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar into ongoing administrative and financial crisis at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
In the memorandum submitted on Monday, the unions have urged the Governor to remove Vice-Chancellor Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla, citing his prolonged absence of 422 days, which has led to a breakdown in administrative functioning and institutional stability.
Rymbui for dialogue
Education Minister instructed the officials of the department to meet with the Pro-Vice Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU)’s Tura campus to find solutions to the administrative crisis plaguing the university due to absence of Vice Chancellor Prof P Shukla for the past 422 days.
Rymbui’s directive follows a meeting with NEHU stakeholders, including NEHUTA, NEHUNSA, NEHUSU, and KSU, who urged him to intervene in the crisis.
The stakeholders have requested that the Pro-VC of the Tura campus either takes charge as Acting VC or resigns, allowing a senior professor to assume responsibility and restore stability to the university
