Central University of Jharkhand: Order suspending professor removed from varsity website

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In the wake of media reports on the issue, Raj Bhavan also wrote to the V-C asking him to rectify the mistake in the suspension order.

Bhattacharji was suspended for inviting N M Panini, a former JNU professor, to an event to mark Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary. The order read: “Prof Panini is considered as mentor of the group of students of JNU, who were involved in anti-national activities… The invitation to Prof Panini by Dr Shreya Bhattacharji, without examining his credentials, led to widespread criticism… as a result of which not only the image of the University was tarnished… the reputation of the Vice-Chancellor was put on stake.” Panini ultimately did not attend the event.

On Wednesday, Yadav said there was an “oversight” in drafting the order. He said that while there was a threat of disruption if Panini reached the campus, the suspension order also blamed Bhattacharji for cancellation of the Governor’s visit to the event, celebrated between March 17 and 19. “These two separate issues (Panini’s visit and Governor’s visit) got linked,” he said.

The V-C added that a three-member committee, headed by the Chief Proctor, was likely to submit its report on the issue by this evening and a decision would be taken Thursday.

CUJ teachers and research scholars termed the suspension inexplicable. They added that Bhattarcharji was a good teacher and a competent administrator.

Speaking to The Indian Express, V-C Yadav said: “I called up Panini to say there were apprehensions of agitation on campus. He told me that, in such a situation, he would not come. The programme of the Governor was cancelled the evening before the event on March 19. These two separate issues got linked. Probably the drafting of the letter led to the confusion.” He added that a corrigendum was in order. About Bhattarcharji’s suspension, the V-C said: “Suspension is not establishment of guilt. A committee has been formed.”

About the Governor’s visit, he said that her office only told the university that she could not attend, without assigning any specific reason.

When the suspension order came, Bhattacharji was not on campus, teachers said. She was in Kolkata and had taken ill. Shikul Bhattacharji, her mother, told The Indian Express over phone, “She will talk to you after she is in a position to do so.”

Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) demanded that Bhattacharji’s suspension be revoked and the CUJ V-C issue a public apology to Panini. “The JNUTA condemns in the strongest possible terms the suspension… It also demands that the VC of Central University of Jharkhand issue a public apology to Professor M.N. Panini,” read a statement by JNUTA.