A for armed forces in AMU: Ex-soldiers are top univ officials

While Shah defends the appointments saying he wanted people he could “trust implicitly”,others feel the move has left the “academic and democratic nature” of the university under threat.

“Rules are being circumvented and emergency powers being misused — be it appointing and giving increments to a major general as professor,setting up the Faculty of International Studies,or an eviction order given to six families,” said a teacher,on the condition of anonymity.

Aftab Alam,a teacher of political science at AMU,worries that the appointments give the wrong impression about the university. “Why are academic institutions being headed by non-academics? A professor cannot head the military or police forces,” he says. “We do not have a problem with the people but the fact that the university is being run by those from the military is a cause of concern… Why get them just from the Army or the Air Force? If you do not trust people within an institution,how can you run the system?”

Alam also wonders why this is happening in minority institutions such as AMU and Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University (which till recently had former IAS officer Najeeb Jung as vice-chancellor). “Why not JNU or Delhi University?… People ask what is happening in the university,‘Why are there so many Armymen?’.”

Irfan Habib,Professor Emeritus,Department of History,AMU,sees the stamp of the Army in a series of developments at the university recently,including the closing down of the AMU press,eviction of families of university employees,and suspension of the students’ union president. “If this is how the Army functions,it sheds a very poor light on them,” Habib says.

Shahzad Alam Barni,who was suspended by Shah as students’ union president,says the vice-chancellor’s word is the law. “There is no scope for negotiation now. Whatever is said by the V-C becomes the rule — be it restriction on keeping bikes or the attendance issue and even appointment of faculty members.”

While students not meeting the requirement of 75 per cent attendance were not given hall tickets for university exams this time,from the new session,students staying in hostels will not be allowed to keep motorcycles.

Shah has also implemented other orders viewed as diktats — making it mandatory for students to wear sherwanis when they visit the V-C’s office and ensuring that they vacate hostels during holidays.

Unruffled by the criticism,the V-C says he had brought in people whom he trusted and who had “academic and administrative experience”. “What is wrong in that?”

Shah also believes that he has managed to bring calm to the university,his main focus when he took over. “There wasn’t a single day when the university closed due to any trouble last year. Classes did not get disrupted,” he says.

He attributes his order seeking vacation of hostels during holidays to the same reason. “The main stumbling block on our way forward is non-student criminals being given shelter by a small proportion of AMU students in the hostels,” he claims.

Defending the move to ban motorcycles,he had called “bike gangs” a menace on the campus in a letter to students. “If you can afford a motorcycle you can afford to live outside the AMU campus,” Shah wrote.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Ahmad Ali also rejects charges of dictatorial behaviour. “On the contrary,AMU has been and will remain a democratic institution. We believe in transparency and consultations are held. Not a single act has been arbitrary. We are accessible to everyone — all through the day we meet teachers,students and parents. The interest of the university is foremost. There has never been a one-man show guided by one or two person’s opinion,” says Ali.

That AMU could do with some level of stability can’t be questioned. The university has been beset with incessant agitations and student violence.

“The present administration has been able to bring some sense of security,especially among girls. Cases of eveteasing have reduced. Bikes have always been a menace,there was a need to check this,” says Afroz Jahan,a student at the Faculty of Arts.

A section of teachers is also backing Shah for this reason. Mustafa Zaidi,Department of Library and Information Science,says that while the V-C’s men were dictatorial in some ways,they were not in others. “They come from a different system,” Zaidi reasons. “Questioning is an integral part of the university system. In the Army,asking questions is treated as treason,arguments are not allowed.”

However,he is disappointed that things haven’t changed enough. “We had thought that discipline brought in by the V-C,considering his Army background,will bring accountability in the system. This has not happened so far.”