Tezpur University Community Concerned Over Confusing Positions Of Central Ministries

In a deeply confusing and concerning development, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has published an official Facebook post acknowledging Prof. Dhruba Kumar Bhattacharya as the Vice Chancellor of Tezpur University. This public recognition stands in stark contradiction to the position earlier taken by the Ministry of Education, which had explicitly denied Prof. Bhattacharya any administrative authority.

This has led to confusion in the Tezpur University community. In a statement, the University community said that this "inconsistency exposes a troubling lack of coordination and communication between ministries at the highest levels of the Government of India. At a time when Tezpur University is grappling with prolonged administrative paralysis and an unprecedented stakeholder movement, such contradictory signals from the Centre only deepen uncertainty and instability withinthe institution."

 Adding to it, the Ministry of Education has recently appointed Prof. Amarendra Kumar Das as Pro Vice-Chancellor without acknowledging the role or status of Prof. Dhruba Kumar Bhattacharya, the senior-most professor, as Acting Vice-Chancellor allowed by the statutes in Tezpur University Act. This selective recognition raises serious questions in the Tezpur University community about procedural fairness, statutory norms, and the Centre’s commitment to restoring transparent governance in the University.

The University community, in its statement, questions--"What is the Government playing at? Are these contradictions the result of institutional negligence, or do they reflect a deeper indifference towards the crisis unfolding in a central university of the North-East?"

"The repeated administrative ambiguities suggest that the issue is not being treated with the seriousness it deserves - perhaps reinforcing the long-standing perception that Delhi remains distant, both geographically and politically, from the realities of the region."

"The stakeholders of Tezpur University strongly urge the Government of India to issue an immediate, clear, and unified clarification on the leadership and administrative authority of the University, and to demonstrate accountability through coherent and coordinated action. Silence and contradiction at this juncture only erode trust in the system and prolong the suffering of an academic institution already pushed to the brink,"--the statement emphasised.

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