The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of faculty associations at the Pondicherry Central University will take the struggle, to oust Vice Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy for alleged academic and administrative misdemeanours, to the Union Government.
JACs response
Responding to recent charges by the University management that the Pondicherry University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) was defunct and invalid, the JAC said the statement issued by the Vice Chancellor “only reveals her desperation.
The struggle for academic integrity and administrative stability is gathering strength and the struggle will move on to New Delhi . There the faculty will highlight the problems faced by the University before the Central Government.”
The JAC — Pondicherry University Teachers’ Association, Pondicherry University Officers’ Association, Pondicherry University Non-teaching Staff Welfare Association and Pondicherry University Group C&D Employees Welfare Association — also countered the charge that a protest on April 18 and fast on April 20 had disrupted the peace of the campus.
While the route march on April 18 fell on a Saturday — a holiday — and was taken out in the city, the fast was organised outside the University gate in a peaceful manner, the JAC said.
Delay
Also, while the University statement attempted to paint a rosy picture of achievements under Ms. Krishnamurthy, especially in declaration of 80 probations, the fact was that these probations were delayed by almost two years, the JAC stated. Only about half the number of probations claimed to have been declared were actually implemented, and that too, after a determined struggle by PUTA, the JAC said.
Claiming that the University, which secured an “A” grade in the NAAC reaccreditation process, is now in the doldrums, the JAC stated that the core issue is not the legality or otherwise of the stakeholders, but misconduct, authoritarian ways and misrepresentation engaged in by the Vice Chancellor.
The Joint Action Committee said the statement by the VC reveals her desperation.
