Kirori Mal College tussel continues as teachers protest

Ten days after Kirori Mal College's principal-Bhimsen Singh -was unceremoniously suspended by the college's governing body for publicly slandering the body's chairman, the situation is far from settling down. HT reports

Ten days after Kirori Mal College's principal-Bhimsen Singh -was unceremoniously suspended by the college's governing body for publicly slandering the body's chairman, the situation is far from settling down.

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While two teachers of the college -Sudipto Ghosh and Rudrashish Chakraborty -were served a showcause notice by the university for going on a mass casual leave and protesting the principal's suspension, across the board teachers have now decided to take matters in their hands.

"Two teachers had been served a show-cause notice for protesting. We have the right to protest against such autocratic measures and the university cannot baselessly issue showcause notices to teachers who are protesting. Most teachers from all colleges are supporting us on this matter," said Abha Dev Habib, member, DUTA.

While teachers in DU have decided to protest against the clampdown on protesting teachers, they have also dissociated themselves from Singh's comments, claiming that the decision to hold a press conference was his own.

"We have nothing to do with what Singh said or did because it was his sole decision. However, we hope for an impartial enquiry into the matter," Habib added.

University officials, however, remained tight-lipped about the matter. While they had decided to slap a defamation suit against the principal, they maintained that the college's governing body, headed by Baleshwar Rai, would now look into the matter.

"The governing body will now take the matter forward and retired supreme court judge Justice AK Ganguly will now look into the matter. Singh had made some serious allegations against the registrar and Baleshwar Rai in public and such behaviour is unacceptable," said a senior DU official, requesting anonymity.

Singh had been suspended on August 1, following a governing body meet. After this, he too said that he would move the court.

"I will take this matter to the high court and challenge it. I have documents which prove that Baleshwar Rai has cases pending against him and he is not fit to be the chairman of the governing body," said Bhimsen Singh.