Shillong, Aug 19: The North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) has continued their demand for removal of NEHU vice-chancellor Prof PS Shukhla for indulging in ‘anti-tribal activities’ and held the VC responsible for the downward spiral of the university’s ranking.
Seeking the intervention of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, NEHUTA submitted a letter to commission member Nirupam Chakma, accusing the VC of ‘exploiting and harassing tribals’ at the institute.
“Accordingly, we have decided to write to you being a responsible member of the National Commission for Scheduled tribes (NCST) so that the VC can be reprimanded for exploiting and harassing tribals and practicing and propagating anti-tribal attitude and we demand that he should be removed from the office immediately, ” the letter to Chakma read.
NEHUTA president Lakhon Kma said the tribal public of Meghalaya has taken notice of the alleged caste-based discrimination being perpetrated by the VC for the last three years by filling up posts of non-teaching positions such as deputy registrar, registrar and finance officer, which can potentially affect the institute’s professed objectives.
“He is also the greatest violator of all well-established procedures and practices in the university and NEHU Act, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations and UGC Regulation 2018 since joining NEHU as the vice-chancellor in 2021. He has totally lost any academic and moral direction to lead the University. Therefore, his continuance in office shall only mark steep fall and decline in NEHU’s professed objectives and we would like to request you to take necessary steps for his immediate removal from the office of the vice-chancellor in the larger interest of NEHU and the tribals of Meghalaya and the Northeastern region,” Kma said.
The NEHUTA chief also alleged that Shukla has constantly robbed opportunities of local tribals of the state in contributing to the upliftment of the university by importing unscrupulous people from outside the state only to bring down the ranking and prestige of NEHU to the lowest position it has ever been.
“It is worth mentioning that NITI Aayog data of July 2023 ranked Meghalaya as the poorest state of India in the NE region and reported 32.54% of the population with multidimensional poverty as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) and the VC is adding to the poverty by not giving employment opportunity to deserving local tribals of Meghalaya,” he alleged.
Lashing out at Shukla, Kma further accused the VC of neglecting his duties and being frequently absent from duty pointing to Shukla’s lack of concern for NEHU’s welfare. “His lack of ability as a VC and blatant display of favouritism and nepotism is taking NEHU to the drains,” said the professor.
The letter also stated that “Due to his serious lack of understanding on the functioning of the university system, the declaration of results was getting delayed at every level putting the careers of thousands of tribal students at stake. Once the controller office started functioning at less-than-optimal level, the VC removed Omkar Singh from the post of controller only to offer him the post of a registrar, a far more important position. Here again, Prof P S Shukla ignored qualified and rooted local candidates. The whole world got to see how Omkar Singh created a total mayhem and stampede situation during the CUET Undergraduate examination in NEHU on 15th May, 2024, who appointed himself as the supervisor of the CUET centre in NEHU, Shillong.”
Stating that the university ranking is sliding at a fast pace, he said, “When he (Prof Shukla) joined as VC NEHU in July 2021, the ranking of NEHU as per National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Ministry of Education was 59, 66 in 2022, 80 in 2023 and the worst ever slide of 56 positions i.e. 136 in 2024. It only speaks volume of his inefficiency of taking along the tribals of Meghalaya to improve the overall performance of the university.”
Kma said that since his tenure as the VC, Shukla has failed to rope in new projects for the upliftment of the tribal communities of NEHU or Meghalaya in general for the last three years adding that no new hostels or quarters have been built while the existing ones are in dilapidated condition, creating problems for tribal students and staff.
“In our opinion, NEHU has seen the worst kind of VC in Prof PS Shukla in decades. He is illogical, arrogant and insensitive to tribals and is ready to violate all well-established procedures including the NEHU Act, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations openly to suit his ego,” said alleged Kma adding that as an association and the university fraternity, particularly the tribal locals, they have to do everything possible to put an end to it.
Kma also accused the VC of attempting to completely change the harmonious tribal, ethnic and other Indian character of NEHU into a ‘monolith of Hindi Hindu Brahminical University’. “At least his action speaks more than words, it’s loud and clear,” the letter said.
Urging Chakma to intervene and save the university and its statutory bodies from ‘blatant violations and degradation’ which the staff and students have experienced, Kma said it will set a dangerous precedence if Shukla is allowed to continue his tenure, further emboldening the VC to violate all statutory provisions on different matters concerning our wellbeing as university fraternity, particularly the tribal teachers, non-teaching staff and students.
