After Pradipta K. Chaudhary, Professor from the Centre of Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences (SSS), JNU was made the dean of SSS by the vice-chancellor, JNU teachers association said it was dismayed to find that the university had not taken seniority into consideration. “Despite the importance of observing seniority as the sole guiding principle in the appointment of deans and Chairpersons, this appointment has been made superseding five colleagues senior to Pradipta Chowdhury,” said the JNUTA in a statement.
Five professors — Kunal Chakrabarty, Jayati Ghosh, Rajat Datta, Ravi S. Srivastava and B. K. Khadria — are senior to Prof. Chaudhary, who is sixth in line.
‘Most transparent’
The JNUTA has alleged that since March 2016, when the vice-chancellor indicated that he was determined to appoint chairpersons and deans to serve “at his pleasure”, JNUTA and elected teachers’ representatives in the Executive Council have reasserted the importance of employing seniority as the sole guideline in such appointments.
The JNUTA said it had argued that the rotation by seniority principle must be adopted because this system was the most transparent, eliminates subjectivity and bias, creates checks and balances, and encourages democracy at all levels.
The JNUTA further said the V-C has not followed seniority, which is the norm in JNU, as the administration has faced stiff opposition from the deans of the large schools over the “destruction of the university’s admission policy and research programmes, and the attacks on faculty”. “However, the supersession of five faculty in the SSS is not merely an elimination of known ‘trouble-makers’, but a malafide act of victimisation, for four of the five faculty,” said the JNUTA in a statement.
The administration, in its office order, said that the V-C has the power vested in him under the statutes of the university to appoint deans.