A member thrown out of the St Stephens Colleges governing body,is crying foul over what he terms is his unceremonious removal. Ajay Singha,appointed in 2008,was the nominee of Principal Valson Thampu in the Governing Body (GB). He was appointed under 1(f) of the Rules of the Society,which says that one out of the 18 GB members shall be an appointee of the Principal. Rule 2 also says All elected or appointed members of the Society shall be elected or appointed for a period of three years,and shall be eligible for re-election or re-appointment. My term runs up to 2011. I was not informed of my removal,either. A friend called me up on September 24 to say that my name was missing from the list of the members of the College Governing Body, said Singha. In a letter written on the same day to Bishop Sunil Kumar Singh,the ex-officio chairman of the GB,Singha said,I checked the college website and found my name missing. Interestingly,the name of S Y Qureshi,Election Commissioner of India,was mentioned in it and it suddenly became clear why I had been sacrificed. I hold the Election Commissioner in the highest esteem,and would have gladly vacated my seat for him had he given me the slightest indication, said Singha. The GB may convene in the next 15 days. As far as the principal is concerned,it is one more vote for him in a struggle for power, said a GB member . St Stephens media advisor Nandita Narain said that according to the information available with her,Singhas appointment was for one year only,starting from August 2008.Thampu had previously nominated him for a year starting August 2007,when he was officer on special duty (principal). Since Singhas one year term had run out in August this year,Qureshi had replaced him.
