Silchar: College teachers in Assam staged a state-wide protest on Saturday for the removal of Siddhartha Sankar Nath, the Principal of Cachar College in Silchar.
Assam College Teachers’ Association (ACTA), the apex body of college teachers in the state, has alleged that Nath instigated a section of students on September 21 to ‘attack’ some teachers and non-teaching staff of the College while they tried to meet the Principal with a few demands.
ACTA in a statement said that the incident that happened on that day was a pre-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by Nath with the evil objective of breaking the morale of the teaching and non-teaching staff who had shown their guts to stand against his dictatorial rule, administrative and financial irregularities and other countless misdeeds.
“However, this sinister and deplorable design of the Principal of Cachar College, to pit a section of the students against the ACTA has been foiled by the students who in large numbers have come out in the open on their own and stood by their teachers”, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the teachers in Cachar College have been on a sit-in demonstration for the last three days for the ouster of Nath.
The teachers of all colleges in the state also supported this movement and they sent more than a hundred e-mails to the Chief Minister for immediate removal of Nath from his office.
Additionally, the teachers’ body also demanded strong action those students who acted at the behest of the principal and attacked the teachers on the college premises.
Nath, however, dismissed the allegations and termed the incident ‘unfortunate’.
In an unrelated development, the Principal of Cachar College was detained on August 21 for allegations of dereliction of duties while conducting a state government recruitment examination at the College.
The Deputy Commissioner of Cachar district lodged an FIR against Nath and following that he was taken into custody for quizzing by the police.
He was later released on bail.
A high-level inquiry committee headed by the Director of Higher Education was set up against Nath following the FIR. The matter is pending before the education department.
Meanwhile, the state education minister, Ranoj Pegu, divulged in the State Assembly during the recently concluded Autumn Session that the Committee had found Nath negligent in his duties on the day of the recruitment examination.
Sources hinted at likely disciplinary action against Nath for his proven dereliction of duty very soon.
–IANS
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