Putting appointment order on stay MU: The infamy continues
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It is scary. It is disturbing. It is unacceptable. At the moment it is the judiciary, the High Court of Manipur, which has stepped in to stay the appointment list furnished by Manipur University and this itself should say so many things. And even as the High Court delivered its ruling, two student bodies have come out in the open alleging gross misconduct and favouritism in MU in coming out with the list of candidates selected for appointment to Grade B and C posts in the university. Favouritism in appointing relatives of persons holding positions of power and authority in the University and the two student bodies went ahead and announced the names of such candidates as well as personalities who hold positions of power and authority in the varsity. At the moment, it is a case of the High Court staying the appointment, but what happens if the recruitment exercise as a whole is declared null and void ? How about those candidates who could have made the cut for appointment by playing fair ? If such an eventuality comes about, who should be held responsible ? Should Manipur be just satisfied with the Court staying the appointment order, or will it go further and try to verify if there were any instances of foul play, other than the fact that the recruitment process did not receive the approval of the Visitor, which is mandatory under the Recruitment Rules of Non-Teaching Posts, 2024 ? Why was MU in such a hurry to go ahead with the recruitment process without sticking to the laid down rules and regulations ? Heads should roll. The Government cannot just sit back and watch under the excuse that MU is a Central varsity. Constitute an independent inquiry commission, let it dig out the truth and unmask those who are behind the fiasco. Other than playing favourites, what has been done is nothing short of victimising the genuine candidates, people who have put in their best efforts to make the cut and be in the list of those who have made it. And here is a case of a fumbling varsity, a shame not only on a place of learning, but a shame on the whole of Manipur. Long before the judiciary stepped in, Manipur University was in the news for many wrong reasons, and it had been like that much before the infamous AP Pandey case. Also remember how AP Pandey parachuted in here in the midst of the internal wranglings within the university and this continued after Pandey was given the marching order. It was then that the High Court stepped in to appoint former Chief Secretary, Jarnail Singh to stem the rot and put the university on track as Administrator, from 2018 to 2020. Looking back, it was the former Administrator who put MU back on track after all the rot and from the little that Jarnail Singh has shared while he was Administrator in his Sunday column in The Sangai Express, readers would have got a fair idea of how the university was run. His book, Manipur University : Restoring Normalcy threw some light on the functioning of the varsity and one wonders why no tips have been picked up from the writings of the former Administrator of MU.
Something is seriously very wrong with MU. No wonder hundreds, if not thousands, of students feel compelled to leave Manipur for their higher studies once they cross the Class XII stage and this should say something pitiable about MU and the colleges that come under it. A place between 101 and 150 in the NIRF ranking of universities across the country is pathetic to say the least. No wonder the university has not been able to work out a position to attract students from other parts of the North Eastern States of India. Something which the Shillong based North Eastern Hill University has been doing consistently for years. Or Guwahati University and even Cotton University. Something has to give and the process should start from the people calling the shots in the university right now. If a non-local like Jarnail Singh could do so much and in the process instil confidence in the people, why are home grown, local people failing so pathetically to ensure that even a recruitment job of appointing employees in Grade B and C posts is done above board ? Something, somewhere is wrong and there is a reason why there is the growing perception amongst some section of the people that the biggest obstacle to progress in the State are the people themselves.
Something is seriously very wrong with MU. No wonder hundreds, if not thousands, of students feel compelled to leave Manipur for their higher studies once they cross the Class XII stage and this should say something pitiable about MU and the colleges that come under it. A place between 101 and 150 in the NIRF ranking of universities across the country is pathetic to say the least. No wonder the university has not been able to work out a position to attract students from other parts of the North Eastern States of India. Something which the Shillong based North Eastern Hill University has been doing consistently for years. Or Guwahati University and even Cotton University. Something has to give and the process should start from the people calling the shots in the university right now. If a non-local like Jarnail Singh could do so much and in the process instil confidence in the people, why are home grown, local people failing so pathetically to ensure that even a recruitment job of appointing employees in Grade B and C posts is done above board ? Something, somewhere is wrong and there is a reason why there is the growing perception amongst some section of the people that the biggest obstacle to progress in the State are the people themselves.