E-Paper
Registrar?s letter upsets AU professor
ONE OF the senior most teachers and a Dean of the Allahabad University (AU) Prof Hari Prakash is nowadays greatly upset thanks to a letter of the acting AU Registrar Prof US Rai.
ONE OF the senior most teachers and a Dean of the Allahabad University (AU) Prof Hari Prakash is nowadays greatly upset thanks to a letter of the acting AU Registrar Prof US Rai.
The wording of the letter has so greatly hurt him that it led to the best teacher award winning Professor to lodge a complaint with the AU Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajen Harshe besides hurting the very spirit with which the VC was planning to appoint the teacher as the new co-ordinator of the AU's prestigious MN Saha Centre of Space Studies.
It all began with the co-ordinator of the MN Saha Centre of Space Studies, Prof Shyam Lal Srivastava, who was serving on an extension after retirement, putting in his papers on some personal grounds. This led to the AU Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajen Harshe facing with an immediate task of finding a suitable replacement for the post.
The VC invited over-half-a-dozen senior teachers of the varsity to forward their achievements and works of the past five years to him so that they could be considered for the post and the best man be appointed as the co-ordinator of the MN Saha Centre of Space Studies.
Based on his scrutiny of the work done by the teachers, the VC short-listed the name of AU Dean (Science) and one of varsity's senior-most professors Prof Hari Prakash for the post. The VC invited Prof Prakash to his chamber on May 13, 2006 and after praising and congratulating him on his work, the VC informed him that he wishes to appoint Prof Prakash as the new co-ordinator of MN Saha Centre of Space Studies so that research work could get a boost under his leadership. Prof Harshe also informed the Dean that the letter of appointment would be dispatched to him by the Registrar at the earliest.
However, Prof Prakash is said to have got a shock when he received the May 14, 2006 letter (No-36/Registrar/146/2006) informing him that he is being appointed as the co-ordinator of the Centre only "till next arrangement is made".
The letter, copies of which were forwarded to all the heads of the departments, directors of various AU centres besides the VC's office, went on to inform Prof Prakash that he "shall act as a figurehead" managing day-to-day functioning of the centre and will have to grant full autonomy to all the teachers undertaking research at the centre.
Upset over the wording of the letter, Prof Prakash is said to have shared his pain and his plans to decline the offer with another senior professor of the varsity who managed to convince him not to act in haste and apprise the VC of his feelings before taking any such step.
Prof Prakash then met the VC Prof Harshe with his copy of the letter which led to the VC assuring Prof Prakash that the letter indeed was not in the spirit in which he wanted to appoint him as the co-ordinator. The VC assured Prof Prakash that he will look into the matter following which Prof Prakash proceeded on leave.
Efforts to contact Prof Hari Prakash for his comments proved futile as, persons at home informed, "He is out of the state on a personal visit."
