Vice Chancellor of Assam University, Dr Dilip Chandra Nath, is distraught these days. Why shouldn’t he be? For, he has not been able to step inside his official chamber, inside the campus, for the fifth consecutive day, beginning, the evening of September 28 last.
The deadlock between Assam University authorities and its student body, the Assam University Students Union (AUSU), does not seem to end very soon. The students sealed the gates last Friday demanding an explanation from the Vice Chancellor as to why the tainted former Head of the Department of Mathematics Samira Behera is being allowed to go scot-free.
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The argument and the rage of the student body, intensified, when the university authorities, instead of giving an explanation to a high court order on September 26 asking as to why, Samira Behera was sent on ‘long-leave’ following an executive council meeting on July 12 this year, revoked the order in a hush-hush manner on September 19 itself.
Dr Dilip Chandra Nath, who after his arrival on Monday in Silchar, following a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister of India himself, convened two rounds of meeting.
“His first meeting was with his statutory officers of the Vice Chancellor’s secretariat held at Assam University’s guest house, followed by, with all the Deans and Head of the Departments at Bipin Chandra Pal auditorium, inside the campus. From both the meetings, the suggestion that was put forth before the VC, was to, have a formal round of talks with AUSU,” Milan Das, president of Assam University Students Union, told Northeast Now.
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Milan Das said, “A delegation led by Registrar, Sanjeev Bhattacharjee, Dy Registrar, Manoj Kumar Dey, Dean Student Welfare, Pranab Bihari Mazumder, Associate Professor of Law Department, Priya Ranjan Kumar, Assam University Non-Teaching Association (AUNTA) president and secretary, Sagnik Choudhury and Ranendra Das, met the members of AUSU in the evening to break the deadlock over the whole matter.”
We have categorically placed our stand before this delegation by saying that university authorities should challenge the order of the Gauhati High Court and provide justice to the woes and agonies faced by many students for Samira Behera. If that is not initiated, then, we can open the gates of the Vice Chancellor’s chamber, only with a rider, that Dr Dilip Chandra Nath has to resign from his post, Das said.
The Vice Chancellor was last heard working from the guest house of this university on Wednesday, while his ‘lieutenant’, Registrar, Sanjeev Bhattacharjee, left for Guwahati on Tuesday to attend to these issues revolving around Gauhati High Court, informed the AUSU president, who, while winding up his conversation with Northeast Now said, “we won’t buckle this time round.”
The time though is up for AUSU president Milan Das, as the last day of nominations for the university elections ended on Wednesday and the new set of student leaders would be seen contesting and elected on October 9.