Text and interview by Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net
Kolkata: The student protests at Aliah University for more than 50 days now is a major “conspiracy” of the students backed by many faculty members as well as by some influential personalities from the State Minority department, said Vice Chancellor Dr Abu Taleb Khan in an exclusive interview with TwoCircles.net.
Prof Khan alleged that his stance of avoiding favouritism to some of the Professors in time of their promotion and thwarting the recruitment of heavy weighed persons’’ children in some departments has resulted in this inevitable ruckus at the three campuses of the University.
The Aliah University students’ protests came into headlines last month with many demands, including the resignation of the VC over allegations of corruption, nepotism and academic stalemate TwoCircles.net had done a series of stories on the issue, highlighting the demands of the students and the stance of the University authority. But today’s interview has for the first time brought out the side of the VC.
“This is solely a conspiracy against me as I tried not to follow their steps of nepotism, corrupted outlook. The former Registrar had played a divide and rule policy last year and vented the students so that I can approve his candidature as pro-vice chancellor, but I did not.
“Now, students are backed by some Professors, like Maseehur Rahaman, the department head of Arabic, who applied for the post of Controller of Examinations that I thwarted because of his lack of essential criteria for the said post,” Prof Khan said.
He added that Rahaman is igniting the students of his department itching communal sentiments. Till now the said post remains vacant and one Professor from Statics department is acting as a temporary officiating controller.
In response to the Vice Chancellor’s allegations, Prof Maseehur Rahaman said, “The VC was the first person to recommend me for the said post, and I was selected accordingly although it was later suspended. Why would students protest in such large numbers if this matter was only to my interest?”
Prof Khan refuted the students’ claim that he is involved with corruption in the recruitment of Assistant Professor as the fact-finding committee found. He said that this Committee was set up as a conspiracy by the Chairman of Minority Commission of Bengal. He said, “I did not listen to the request of Intaj Ali Shah, the chairman of WBMDFC who wanted me to recruit his daughter in the law department even after not having NET qualified criteria.”
He said that in the FFC report, he replied that there is one professor who was not recruited according to rules. “But the fact is that he was offered the joining letter in 2010 by the then Registrar and I joined this university in 2013. How can I then be involved?”
Prof Khan also thwarted the allegation of financial mismanagement saying purchasing of furniture and other items are under finance section, not in his hand. He just does his job of sanctioning and approving the money.
Shah, in his reply to the VC’s comments, said, “These are baseless claims. The VC is trying to divert his corrupted nature by falsely accusing me.”
Prof Khan has also alleged that some current and former students’ leaders run a nexus of scholarships with help from some university officials. He even names one former general secretary for submitting 750 applications. He further reiterated that demands of students who have several backlog papers or who failed in entrance examinations and got as little as zero or one-two must still get admission simply because they applied for it is unjustified.
Watch his entire interview here:
Part One:
Part Two:
Related:
Aliah University is only a decade old, but its problems are all too familiar