The North-Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) has objected to the holding of the central university’s executive council (EC) meeting in New Delhi on November 14, asserting that vice-chancellor (VC) professor Prabha Shankar Shukla, who has been “absent” from the Shillong headquarters for nearly a year, cannot chair the session.
In letters dated November 4, addressed to EC members and the pro-vice-chancellor, NEHUTA urged them to refrain from attending the New Delhi meeting. The letters, which became public on Sunday, cited Shukla’s continued absence from the university since November last year, the education ministry’s austerity measures, and discussions held in May with a visiting ministry team regarding his conduct as grounds for the opposition.
Apart from NEHUTA, the NEHU Students’ Union (NEHUSU) and the Khasi Students’ Union–NEHU unit (KSU-NEHU unit) have also voiced strong opposition. On Tuesday, members of both unions locked the VC’s office in Shillong in protest against the proposed meeting.
A NEHUTA member told The Telegraph that the teachers, students and staff of the Shillong-based central university were not against the EC meeting itself but against it being held under the “absentee” VC and outside the state. “The registrar in charge notified the meeting date on verbal instructions from higher authorities, though there is no clarity on who ordered it. We believe it came from the VC, who has been absent for almost a year. Holding the meeting in Delhi will waste limited university funds when the pro-vice-chancellor can conduct it on campus,” the member said.
Another member said Shukla has been operating from the NEHU guest house in Guwahati, around 110km from Shillong, since a “revolt” by students, teachers and non-teaching staff forced him out of campus. The unrest, he said, stemmed from “mismanagement, nepotism, and narcissistic behaviour” that led to the VC being declared persona non grata after over three years in office.
Last week, Congress MP and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee leader Gaurav Gogoi said he would raise in Parliament the issues plaguing leading northeastern universities, including Tezpur University, Gauhati University and NEHU, which he said had been “in the news for the wrong reasons.”
In its letter to the EC members, NEHUTA said that after Shukla went on earned leave on November 15 last year, he “has not physically joined duty at NEHU headquarters in Shillong,” amounting to continuous absence for over 354 days as of November 4. The association added that the education ministry has not yet released the inquiry committee report on his conduct following protests in 2023 seeking his removal. Despite this, NEHUTA alleged, the VC continues to interfere in the university’s functioning.
The teachers’ body further stated that during discussions with the education ministry’s visiting team in May, it was agreed in the presence of EC members, NEHUTA and NEHUSU that the May 30 EC meeting in Delhi would be the last chaired by Shukla and that the pro-Vvce-chancellor would perform all statutory duties henceforth.
“It was also agreed that the VC would excuse himself from future EC and Academic Council meetings,” the association said. “By again trying to chair the EC in violation of that understanding and scheduling it outside the campus, he is undermining both the ministry’s directives and the austerity measures for central universities.”