NBU council meet hit by staff protest

Siliguri, July 6: The executive council meeting of North Bengal University was cancelled today as nine members were prevented from attending the session by around 100 non-teaching employees protesting the alleged illegal appointment of Swapan Rakshit as the acting registrar.

The protest was held under the banner of the NBU Employees’ Association, which has around 480 members.

Rakshit had been appointed acting registrar by the vice-chancellor, Arunabha Basumajumdar, on March 30 last year. The association alleged that the appointment was illegal, as the VC had not got the mandatory permission from the council.

Around 100 employees gathered at the administrative building and started sloganeering against the VC an hour before the meeting was to begin. They later squatted in front of his office and blocked the staircase leading to it.

Around 11am, nine EC members arrived to attend the meeting. “We had gone to attend the meeting in the greater interest of the varsity. But we were prevented by the employees from entering the conference hall despite repeated requests,” said Nikhil Guha, a council member.

However, J.C. Basak, another EC member, refused to heed the employees’ demand and proceeded to the conference hall where the meeting was scheduled.

In fact, the nine members had boycotted the last meeting of the EC to protest Rakshit’s appointment without the council’s concurrence.

Guha said a note had been forwarded to the VC, saying the council members would not be responsible if any trouble cropped up because of Rakshit’s appointment.

D.P. Boot, the general-secretary of the association, said Basumajumdar had appointed Rakshit as the acting registrar without following rules.

“Section 11 (3) (of the NBU Act) states that if the registrar is unable to discharge his duties, the VC may appoint either a teacher or an officer temporarily for a period of six months with the EC’s approval. Clause 12 states that even if the VC has acted on emergency, he can appoint the registrar on an ad-hoc basis for six months and should apply for EC’s approval for extension beyond that period. But he has not followed the legal procedure laid down by varsity’s rule book,” said Boot, who is also an EC member.

The council has 26 members and the presence of at least 10 was needed to fulfil the quorum. Apart from Basak, the only other member who came to attend the meeting was the varsity’s controller of examinations.

According to a varsity official, the VC cancelled the meeting after waiting for an hour for the members to turn up.

The VC refused comment on the employees’ charge.

-The Telegraph