Shillong, Nov 28: NEHU Vice Chancellor PS Shukla named two professors for allegedly creating unrest in NEHU.
The two professors are yet to respond though WhatsApp messages were sent to them for their response by this reporter.
In the second annexure (below) sent to the union secretary, education Shukla made the following allegations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INCIDENT:
“Two professors, Prof. Lakhon Kma and Prof Prasanjit Biswas, are the real masterminds
behind all the current problems at NEHU. They carefully planned actions to disrupt the
university’s function and weaken its administration with personal agendas. This may even be part of a bigger plan that may unfold later.
About Prof. Biswas and Prof. Kma
• Prof. Biswas is the vice president of the NEHUTA and has strong leftist ideology. He
is well known for his ability to handle and convince students for any cause, including
to protest and cause trouble for the administration. Recently, reports have come to my attention about several financial problems involving Prof. Biswas with documentary
proofs and actions against him. The documents have been prepared and are being
finalized for appropriate action against him.
• Prof. Kma is the President of the NEHU Teacher Association (NEHUTA) and has an
aim to have a career in politics. In the past, he ran for the Lok Sabha election, and
during that time, to get the attention of the public, he started some agitations with a
handful of teachers to create trouble for the NEHU administration. However, this
earlier attempt failed because most faculty members saw his motives and stopped
supporting him after a while. After losing the election badly, Prof. Kma was planning
for another attempt to create disruptions.
Plan: In early September 2024, Prof. Biswas and Prof. Kma came up with a well-designed
plan:
• Prof. Biswas somehow came to know about the file being prepared against him and
wanted to avoid the action being taken. He also keeps making a nuisance to impress
his supporters who back leftist ideas.
• Prof. Kma wanted to create chaos at NEHU to get attention and prepare for the
upcoming MLA elections.
• To carry out their plan, they decided to use the NEHU Student Union (NEHUSU) to
start a protest. Prof. Biswas, who is good at convincing and handling students,
persuaded the student leaders to organize a strike. The students were initially told to
focus on asking for the removal of the university registrar and a deputy registrar. Prof.
Kma then joined the protest to make it more political by calling teachers to join.
Similarly, they asked the Nehu Non-teaching Association (NEHUNSA) to come up
with pen down and support.
DETAILED CHRONOLOGY OF THE INCIDENTS
Shillong, Oct 25, 2024 (Friday):
• The 113th meeting of the Academic Council was scheduled for Friday, Oct 25, 2024.
Members gathered in the multi-conventional hall. At approximately 10:25 AM, I
entered the venue. During the proceedings, Prof. Desmond L. Kharmawphlang
(Department of Cultural and Creative Studies) raised concerns about the Deputy
Registrar, highlighting grammatical errors in an official letter. His comments were
supported by Prof. Lakhan Kma (Department of Biochemistry and President of
NEHUTA), Prof. Prasenjit Biswas (Department of Philosophy), Prof. Sumarbin
Umdor (Economics), and Prof. Xavier P. Mao (Department of Philosophy).
• They were adamant about their demand that the Registrar (Col. Omkar Singh) be
asked to leave and not sit in the Academic Council meeting. The reason raised was he
was incompetent. Such reasons were never raised in the last 11 months since the
Registrar was appointed. There were baseless and self-motivated conspiratorial
charges on his appointment and incompetency.
• Later, the NEHUSU and KSU NEHU unit forcefully closed the office of the
university registrar, retired Col. Omkar Singh, and even chased him out of his
chamber.
• I attempted to calm the members, but the group began shouting and demanded the
immediate removal of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar. Tensions escalated when
Prof. Lakhan Kma used abusive language against the Registrar. A vote among the
members revealed that only ten attendees supported the demand, while over 90
professors stood with myself and the Registrar.
• After the meeting, Prof. Lakhan Kma, accompanied by student leaders, locked the
offices of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar. I sought discussions with
representatives of NEHUTA and NEHUSU, but they remained adamant about
removing the officials without conducting an inquiry. NEHUSU subsequently
initiated a hunger strike to push their demands, forcing students out of classrooms and locking faculty offices and departmental buildings.
Shillong, Oct 30, 2024 (Wed):
• The agitating students demanded the removal of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar,
as well as the appointment of a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, in their memorandum dated
30.10.2024. I agreed to both demands and communicated this during my address to
them on 4th November. Additionally, a formal letter was sent to the President of
NEHUSU confirming this. An Executive Council meeting was subsequently convened, where decisions were made in their favour.
• I invited all student union office bearers to meet and discuss issues with him, but they
declined to discuss them. They raised slogans and banners and insisted on terminating
the Registrar and Deputy Registrar before holding any talks. They had a pre-planned
hidden agenda for targeting the Vice-Chancellor.
• The NEHUSU protest started. The NEHUSU did not know about the actual plan that
Prof. Kma and Prof. Biswas had made. Soon, coming out with their real plan, these two professors brought in the Khasi Student Union (KSU), which is known for being violent in nature, to take over the protest. This group blocked all the university gates and controlled who could enter and leave the campus.
Shillong, Nov 4 (Mon), 2024:
• To support the students, the NEHUNSA went on an indefinite pen-down strike and
demanded the immediate recruitment of non-teaching posts advertised in 2023. To
clarify, I would like to bring to your notice that earlier, NTA was approached by
NEHU to conduct the recruitment process for non-teaching staff, but they declined at
the last moment for which NEHU invited expressions of interest for conducting the
recruitment process and several other agencies applied for the same.
Shillong, Nov 5 (Tue), 2024:
NEHU students’ union went on a hunger strike after I ruled out the termination of
services of senior administrative officials. I told them that I cannot terminate any
officer without proper inquiry and I would make an inquiry committee to probe any
allegations. I also appealed to the agitating students, teachers, and non-teaching staff
to call off their indefinite agitations, stating that the removal of the officials cannot be
executed based on any unilateral decision or personal discretion. I also assured them
that if there were any irregularities in their appointments, they would be removed.
• It was further assured that the recruitment process for the posts of non-teaching staff
will start once the office of the Registrar reopens, as it is being closed due to the
ongoing protests.
• All activities in the university came to a halt following the twin protests by the student
bodies and non-teaching staff association.
• Prof. Kma and Prof. Biswas encouraged more teachers to join the protest. At first,
many teachers did not want to join, but they felt pressured by KSU’s bad reputation
and stories of past violence against the non-tribal community. Slowly, more teachers
joined because they were scared.
• The KSUs’ demands quickly changed from asking for the removal of the Registrar
and Deputy Registrar to demanding that the Vice Chancellor step down. This was
done with no factual allegation but just to increase pressure.
Shillong, Nov 6, 2024 (Wed):
• I gave a press statement on the issues and clarified them at the Shillong Press Club,
and also stressed that through talks, all the issues can be resolved, and I am open to
that.
• Regarding removing the Registrar, Deputy Registrar (Academics), I clarified that it
could not be executed without inquiry. These officials were appointed following a
thorough screening process and formal interviews. Their roles and continuity in
service are governed by due processes, not by arbitrary decisions from any single authority including myself.
The situation on campus became dangerous. Faculty and staff felt unsafe because of
the aggressive KSU and the presence of unknown people on the campus. Some
teachers talked about their concerns in private messages and discussions in WhatsApp
groups, but Prof. Kma and Prof. Biswas insisted that they were supporting the
students and that everyone needed to join in.
Shillong, Nov 8, 2024 (Fri):
• On Nov 8, NEHUTA EC and Meghalaya Tribal Teachers’ Association members met
with the Honorable Governor to discuss the ongoing situation at NEHU. The
Governor assured that the students’ demands would be considered. He also urged
them to withdraw their agitation. Meanwhile, I repeatedly urged students to end the
strike and engage in dialogue to resume normal academic activities.
• However, after leaving the Governor’s residence, they made highly provocative
statements to the media and encouraged students to escalate their protests. This call to
action posed a serious threat to the stability and security of the university. A video link
of their statements is attached for reference (Link:
https://youtu.be/CY8gcNYW8WY?feature=shared). In response to this, on the night of November 8-9, around 2 am, a large group of students gathered outside the Vice
Chancellor’s house. They shouted loudly and caused a disturbance that worried the
faculty and staff who were staying nearby. The next night, my house was damaged,
including my car, and I narrowly avoided being harmed.
• The protests grew worse, with demands for me to resign. The KSU started threatening
faculty, warning them that they would face consequences if they supported me. This
made more teachers afraid and pushed them to join the protests.
• Eventually, the NEHUSU lost control, and Prof. Kma, Prof. Biswas, and the
aggressive KSU were in charge.
Shillong, Nov 9, 2024 (Sat):
• Amid the ongoing strikes, I reiterated my willingness to address all concerns raised by
students. I appealed to them for a constructive dialogue.
• Despite his efforts to engage with students, I was confined to my residence, unable to
access the campus fully, which was a distressing situation.
• I called an urgent meeting of the Executive Council (EC), but it was delayed due to
restrictions. I urged students to allow the EC meeting to proceed on Monday, enabling
me to take immediate action on pressing matters, including the appointment of a ProVice-Chancellor and forming an inquiry committee to review the appointments of the
Registrar and Deputy Registrar.
Shillong, Nov 10, 2024 (Sun):
• My official quarter at NEHU was vandalized by unidentified miscreants in the wee
hours of Sunday around 2 AM. The district administration officials and a team of
police personnel led by the SP (City) Shri. Dara Ashwaghosh took stock of the situation to prevent any further law and order problems that could have arisen due to the incident.
• My official vehicle, the window panes of the kitchen, and utensils inside the kitchen
were damaged by vandalism. The CCTV cameras and the electricity poles were also
damaged in the attack. The Acting Registrar, Ms. B Rynjah, filed an FIR at Mawlai
police station, Shillong, in this connection.
Shillong, Nov 11, 2024 (Mon):
• I hold the EC meeting. Key decisions were made, including the appointment of Pro
VCs and the constitution of an independent inquiry committee to look into
irregularities, if any, in the appointments of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar.
Shillong, Nov 13, 2024 (Wed):
• I appointed two Pro Vice-Chancellors for the Shillong and Tura campuses. Prof. S M
Sungoh of the Department of Education, NEHU, as the Pro VC of NEHU Shillong
Campus, and Prof. Fameline K Marak of the Department of Garo, NEHU, as the pro VC of Tura Campus were appointed with effect from Nov 13 subject to the approval
of the Executive Council.
Shillong, Nov 13, 2024 (Wed):
• The NEHUTA launched a non-cooperation movement against me.
• Meghalaya High Court released a statement to take suo moto action if the NEHU
crisis persists beyond Nov 20, 2024.
Shillong, November, 14, 2024:
• I conducted an online EC meeting and ratified the approval of both Pro VCs.
• The Ministry of Education, Govt of India, formed an inquiry committee to probe into
the various allegations against the administrative mismanagement of the university.
Shillong Nov 15, 2024 (Fri):
• I went on leave w.e.f. Nov 15, 2024, with prefix and suffix till Nov 29, 2024. Prof N.
Saha assumes charge as in-charge of NEHU, Shillong being the senior most professor
at NEHU, on the evening.
Shillong Nov 18, 2024 (Mon):
• Prof. N. Saha, VC in charge, formed an internal committee to investigate the
allegations and compile a report for the Ministry of Education. However, the
committee chairman is Prof. L. Kma, who is considered the primary architect of the
entire issue. Additionally, most of the committee members were individuals involved in the disruption.This gives clear idea about the objectivity and credibility of the investigation.•
On the same day, the locks to both the Registrar’s office and my own office were forcibly broken, and all confidential files were accessed without authorization. It is important to note that the Registrar (Col. Omkar Singh) was on leave at the time,which made the breach even more concerning. • Since then, I have learned that the committee chairman has accessed all official documents, personal files, and other confidential records of teachers and staff. When questioned by some individuals, the chairman claimed they were “sanitizing” the files. I strongly believe that significant manipulations have been made to these files on a large scale” .
