BN College

Patna, May 19: Students bunking classes is common. Teachers playing truant is not. But Patna University stands out. Here, teachers go on leave without informing their higher authorities.

A teacher of BN College has not been taking classes for the past two-and-a-half months. Neither the college authorities nor the university administration has any information about his whereabouts.

M.N. Sinha, a teacher of the geology department of BN College, has not been taking the classes for the past two-and-a-half months. The varsity administration came to know about Sinha’s disappearance only few days back when it proposed his name for the post of the principal of BN College after Rajkishore Prasad was shown the door.

The single-judge bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi of Patna High Court on Friday set aside Prasad’s appointment from the post of principal of BN College, citing irregularities in his selection process.

Thereafter, the university administration proposed names of several teachers of BN College as the new principal. The varsity’s first choice was P. Nath of the zoology department, but there was no unanimous decision on his candidature because the college had several teachers senior to him.

Later, Sinha’s name was proposed and the university administration tried to contact him but in vain. After a lot of efforts, the authorities came to know that Sinha was in Canada. The varsity administration took strong exception to this and issued a showcause notice to him.

Sudipto Adhikari, the Patna University vice-chancellor, told The Telegraph: “The varsity had issued a showcause notice to Sinha seeking explanation on why he had gone on leave without getting it sanctioned by the college authorities or the university administration.”

Adhikari added that Sinha, who is on leave since first week of February, had first gone to Australia to meet his son before going off to Canada.

Sources said rules and guidelines of the university prohibit any teacher or employee from taking leave during examinations. The examinations are in progress. In case of any emergency, the person has to take permission from the varsity administration.

Sinha is not the first teacher of the varsity to go on leave without informing his seniors.

Patna University Teachers’ Association general secretary Randhir Kumar Singh said: “In 2007, the then vice-chancellor of Patna University, Y.C. Simhadri, had gone on leave to France after his leave was not sanctioned by then Governor R.S. Gavai. Later, the governor asked Simhadri to vacate his post.”

A senior varsity teacher, on the condition of anonymity, said Sinha’s long absence from duty shows negligence on the part of the university.

“The teachers’ attendance register is sent to the varsity registrar. Then, how does he not know about Sinha’s two-and-a-half-month-long absence?” he asked.