WBNUJS constitutes inquiry panel to probe ex-VC

NEW DELHI, MAY 31: The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) has set up an inquiry committee to probe the allegations against the former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ishwara Bhat, who had resigned on March 28, 2018, citing ‘health and family reasons’, following the protests of NLU students.

The WBNUJS students were protesting against Dr Bhat’s alleged maladministration during his tenure.

The four-member panel set up by the executive council of the Salt Lake law school constitutes the Interim Vice Chancellor Justice Amit Talukdar, Justice Ashim Kumar Roy, Advocate General Kishore Datta and Vivek Choudhuri, the Judicial Secretary to the West Bengal Government.

The allegations

The NUJS students protested jointly against Prof Bhat for allegedly introducing CCTV surveillance in classrooms and corridors and ‘moral policing’ on female students on account of security.

They had also accused Prof Bhat, who had joined as NUJS-VC in November 2011, of misappropriation of his position and not taking any initiative to recruit faculty in the NLU.

Some of the issues raised by the students, including ‘moral policing’, had also been mentioned in the statutory review commission's report on the University.

The probe

The inquiry committee is to begin its probe immediately after the summer vacations of the NLU gets over. “The panel will start its probe soon after the law school reopens after the summer vacation," a council member said.

Story so far

The students had also accused the staff of circulating CCTV footage of their movements and trying to ascertain the identities of those who would return to the campus late.

On March 28, the day, Prof Bhat resigned, students had boycotted classes demanding his removal.

The agitation forced the authorities to suspend classes and administrative work for a day, something that had never happened at the university before.

The immediate trigger for the students' agitation was the alleged reluctance of the VC to make the statutory review commission's report public.

The report had been forwarded to the University by the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, who is Chancellor of the NLU.