E-Paper
Denied transfer Bihar varsity teacher offers to return his 33-month salary
The registrar said that he refused to accept the cheque, as there was no such provision.
Lallan Kumar, assistant professor of Hindi at Nitishwar College in Muzaffarpur, tried to create a flutter by offering to return his 33-month salary, amounting to ₹23.8-lakh to the BRA Bihar University, but the university authorities now say it was wrong on his part to put pressure on the university this way for transfer within the town.
“I have not been able to engage any class as students don’t turn up and hence, I don’t deserve salary,” the assistant professor, appointed in 2019, said as the reason for offering a cheque to the registrar RK Thakur in a state where erratic classes in the state universities is a common feature due to a host of reasons.
The registrar said that 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 transfer. As far as post-graduate department is concerned, everyone cannot claim to teach there, because Hindi is taught in other courses also,” said the registrar.
Thakur said that he would seek a report from the 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 added.
The teacher also corroborated that he had been seeking transfer and 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 added.
College principal Manoj Kumar refuted the charges, saying Hindi was a subject taught in Honours and as subsidiary in graduation, besides it was also a subject for others, as it was opted as MIL (modern Indian language). “So, all the students have Hindi in common and there is just one regular teacher and one as hoc teacher. I came to know about his grievance only through media. I would have appreciated had a teacher of his caliber 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 this time only,” he added.
Federation of University Teachers Association of Bihar (FUTAB) general secretary Sanjay Kumar, MLC, who is also teacher in the BRA Bihar University, said the teacher tried to dramatise his transfer issue by trying to highlight what has been the common concern for all the teachers - lack of academic environment in Bihar’s state universities, which reflects in derailed exam calendar and poor classroom attendance.
“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, largely dependent on the poor state of universities for which no body seems bothered. If he had any problem, he could have approached us. He is from the state and got appointed in a town closer to his native place, while many other teachers are there in far flung areas. 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 added.
