The University of Hyderabad (UoH) administration on Monday served suspension notices on two of its faculty members K.Y. Ratnam and Tathagata Sengupta.
Prof. Ratnam and Prof. Sengupta were arrested on March 22 along with 23 students and two outsiders, when several students were protesting in front of the V-C’s lodge, after Prof. Podile assumed office after going on leave in the wake of protests by a section of students. Earlier, violence had broken out in Prof. Podile’s office in the morning, after which academics in the campus were suspended for a few days.
UoH Pro Vice-Chancellor-1, Vipin Srivastava said that the decision to suspend the two faculty members was taken on June 6, during the Executive Council (EC) meeting. “The suspension orders are effective from the day of their arrest, and it will be reviewed within 90 days (by the administration),” he added.
When asked why the UoH administration waited till June to suspend the faculty members, Prof. Srivastava said, “The Vice-Chancellor wanted the EC, which is the highest decision-making body of the university, to deliberate upon this matter before taking a decision.”
Reacting to the development, Prof. Tathagata Sengupta, who is an assistant professor with the School of Mathematics and Statistics, said that he was not surprised by the EC’s decision. “This is the same Vice-Chancellor and EC who took decisions which resulted in the death of Rohith Vemula. If they think that they can stop our struggle against caste discrimination by targeting one or two persons, they are mistaken,” added Prof. Sengupta, who will reach Hyderabad on Tuesday.
K.Y. Ratnam, who is an associate professor with the School of Social Sciences in UoH, could not be reached.
