For the first time in its decade-old history, the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) here has terminated the services of an associate professor for misconduct on the campus.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, NIT registrar Ajit Singh said an inquiry conducted by HP Handa, a retired district and sessions judge, had established the charges against associate professor Rajiv Kumar of the industrial and production engineering department. "Based on the inquiry officer's report, the board of governors decided to terminate Kumar's services during its meeting held earlier this month. Subsequently, he was relieved recently," he added.
Kumar had allegedly hurled abuses at a colleague, A Sachdeva, and later beat him up (as well as another colleague, A Bhardwaj) in the presence of fellow teachers on December 8, 2010. Kumar was placed under suspension on January 6, 2011, after the preliminary inquiry found him prime facie guilty of misconduct and recommended strict action against him. Immediately after the incident, director-incharge SBS Mishra had constituted a panel comprising S Ghosh (chairman), Ajay Sharma, RK Sarin, Sarabjit Singh and R Chandra (all deans) to conduct the preliminary inquiry after receiving a report from department head RK Garg.
In his report, Garg had said that a meeting was held (on December 8, 2010) to distribute semester workload among teachers, which was attended by seven faculty members, including Sachdeva. "The faculty members were apprised of the workload, while RK Garg, A Bhardwaj, RV Sharma, Rajiv Kumar and Sarabjit Singh (in order of seniority) had named courses of their choice. Then, Rajiv asked Sarabjit that he should be given the chance to select his course first, considering the new seniority list. Garg offered to restart the process, while Sachdeva endorsed the same," the report said.
{{/usCountry}}In his report, Garg had said that a meeting was held (on December 8, 2010) to distribute semester workload among teachers, which was attended by seven faculty members, including Sachdeva. "The faculty members were apprised of the workload, while RK Garg, A Bhardwaj, RV Sharma, Rajiv Kumar and Sarabjit Singh (in order of seniority) had named courses of their choice. Then, Rajiv asked Sarabjit that he should be given the chance to select his course first, considering the new seniority list. Garg offered to restart the process, while Sachdeva endorsed the same," the report said.
{{/usCountry}}"Then, Rajiv started hurling abuses at Sachdeva, questioning why the latter was endorsing it now. Rajiv started kicking Sachdeva despite being stopped by colleagues. In this attempt, all documents, mobiles and spectacles lying on the table fell down. Rajiv also beat up Bhardwaj, who was saved by others," the report said. The institute was established in 1987 as a Regional Engineering College and given the status of National Institute of Technology (deemed university) by the union government in 2002.