Denied transfer, Bihar varsity teacher offers to return salary drawn so far

Lallan Kumar, who got appointed as an assistant professor in 2019 after cracking an examination conducted by the BPSC, conceded he had been seeking a transfer

An assistant professor at a college in Muzaffarpur, which is affiliated to Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University, has created a flutter by offering to return ₹23.8 lakh that he has earned towards salary and other emoluments in the last two years and nine months, but the university authorities say it’s more of a publicity stunt by the teacher who has been seeking a transfer elsewhere within the town.

An assistant professor at a college in Muzaffarpur, Lallan Kumar, has offered to return ₹23.8 lakh that he has earned towards salary and other emoluments in the last two years and nine months. (REUTERS)

“I have not been able to take any class as students don’t turn up. Hence, I don’t deserve salary,” Lallan Kumar, who has been an assistant professor of Hindi at Nitishwar College in Muzaffarpur since 2019, cited as the reason for offering a cheque to the registrar RK Thakur.

The registrar said he refused to accept the cheque, as there was no such provision. “But it is a fact that he wants transfer to another college within the town where classes are regular, but ensuring transfer within the town is not easy. Transfer cannot be a right. And there are ways of requesting for a transfer,” said the registrar.

Thakur said he would seek a report from the college principal on Kumar’s allegations that guest faculty members were being allotted classes for payment, while he was not getting classes. “It means classes are being held, but why he is not getting classes or students is a matter the principal would explain,” he said.

Kumar, who got appointed as an assistant professor in 2019 after cracking an examination conducted by the BPSC (Bihar Public Service Commission), conceded he had been seeking a transfer. He, however, alleged that despite his high rank in the merit list, he had been denied good posting “in violation of the norms of natural justice due to pick and choose policy of the university”.

“Those lower than my rank got post-graduate departments and better colleges, while my request was consistently ignored despite regular transfers. Classes in the college are not a big issue, denial of merit certainly is,” he said.

College principal Manoj Kumar dismissed the charges. “I came to know about his grievance only through media. I would have appreciated had a teacher of his calibre come up with solutions to improve things. Classes are held in my college regularly. Not having adequate strength of students is a different issue. Lallan Kumar, as I have gathered, had applied for transfer five times in the past, without following the proper channel and involving me as head of the college. But he never raised the issue in the past. Lack of students has been cited as reason only this time,” he said.

Federation of University Teachers Association of Bihar (FUTAB) general secretary and MLC Sanjay Kumar, who is also teacher in the BRA Bihar University, said the teacher tried to dramatise his transfer issue by highlighting a common concern for all the teachers — lack of academic environment in Bihar’s state universities.

“it is Bihar’s misfortune that assistant prof is demanding PG classes, while earlier it required at least two decades of experience. Hindi is compulsory for all and so the classes have to be allotted. Why students don’t come, if true, is another issue. If he had any problem, he could have approached us. The larger issue is not about any individual, but the slide of higher education and rampant corruption. We had also moved a call attention mention in the Bihar Legislative Council on the issue, but it could not be taken up due to turmoil in the House,” he said.