Cachar College professor Ananda Ghosh stages protest, questions Principal's authority to block his entry

One after another irregularities and “corruption” of the Cachar College administration are coming out every day. Today morning, the events took a bizarre turn when an assistant professor of the college Dr Ananda Chandra Ghosh sat on a protest against the same principal Dr Siddhartha Shankar Nath.

Ananda Ghosh is an assistant professor of the Department of Political Science of Cachar College who has been placed under suspension by Principal Siddhartha Shankar Nath. Early this morning when the office hour of the college began, he was seen sitting on protest. He has alleged that he was denied entry to the college where he is an esteemed faculty.

Ananda Ghosh has alleged that, “The Principal had issues with me since his joining and has been scripting different conspiracies against me. The first problem he had with me was my joining the governing body and working for the welfare of the students and the teachers. He has removed me from the governing body as well. How can an elected member be removed by the Principal who is not an elected member of the body? He has also complained about me in the office of the Directorate of Higher Education. He has no authority to complain against me with the DHE. Yesterday when the DHE visited Cachar College, I was allowed to enter without any trouble and I’ve told them about the same thing as well.”

Ghosh said that he has also knocked doors of the Guwahati High Court to challenge the decision of the Principal and other allegations that were pressed against him. About the court’s ruling he said, “The honourable court has found all the allegations of the Principal null and void. I’ve presented the order of the court to his office, even after this I was denied entry in the college. The disciplinary committee has no issues with me, then why is the Principal harassing me? This is hampering the academics of the students as well”.

DHE has conducted inspection in the college yesterday based on various complaints and irregularities which came to light during the Direct Recruitment Examination. In a complaint sent by Assam College Teachers Association to DHE about the irregularities and misdeeds of the Principal, it was mentioned that, “The glaring instance of abuse of power by the GB and the Principal is about Dr Ananda Chandra Ghosh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. While the DHE being the employer of the employees of the Provincialised Colleges is looking into the allegations against Dr Ananda Chandra Ghosh, and has not as yet inflicted any punishment on him, the GB, in a brazen manner, has kept him out of bounds for the College campus for months on.”

It adds, “He is drawing a full salary from the public funds, but he is not allowed to enter the College and take classes. This is simply a high handedness of the worst kind where the GB has manufactured a different variety of punishment for Dr Ananda Chandra Ghosh in total disregard for the provisions under the Assam Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1964 in general and the Rule 7 thereof in particular.”

The punishments faced by Ananda Ghosh has highlighted in the note read, “in violation of all relevant rules and laws of the land 1) The Principal compelled Mr. Ghosh to quit the post of the NSS Programme Officer before the expiry of his tenure and any reason thereof. 2) The Principal did not allow him to perform Examination and Evaluation related duties. 3) The Principal organized a press meet and maligned the image of Mr. Ghosh in the society. 4) The Principal refused to abide by the order of the Honourable Guwahati High Court. 5) The Principal refused to provide him the Identity Card. 6) The Principal has held up his salary for the months of January and February 2022. 7) The Principal has not processed his file for Promotion under CAS for the last 3 Years. 8) The Principal did not allow the Secretary Co operative society of the college to disburse him loan. 9) The Principal pressurized him torture my colleagues in the capacity of joint Coordinator IQAC. 10) The Principal pressurized him to threaten a petitioner who filled RTI in the College. 11) The Principal harassed and humiliated him in the name of research and Publication. 12) The Principal used to ring him up in the midnight regularly and pressurized me to do some illegal and immoral activities with my colleagues.”

At 12:30 this afternoon, Dr Ghosh withdrew his protest after assurance from the governing body and said, “I don’t want to create any useless ruckus in front of the college and as the president of the governing body and other members have assured me that, they’ll look into the matter. Hence I am withdrawing my strike”.