BRA Bihar University teacher Lalan Kumar makes a U-turn

PATNA: Making a U-turn from his earlier stand of returning his 33 months' salary on moral grounds, Lalan Kumar, an assistant professor of Muzaffarpur-based Nitishwar College under the BRA Bihar University (BRABU) on Friday tendered a written apology to the university registrar forwarded by the college principal for the entire incident.
In a letter written to the registrar, Lalan submitted that he was very upset as his request for transfer was not conceded even after submitting his applications on six occasions and, hence, he was carried away by his emotion and took such a step. I offered to return all my 33 months' salary through a cheque. Later, after talking to my seniors and colleagues, I realized that I should not have acted like this," he said.
He further wrote, "I realized that one should behave according to the norms of the university. I will not take such emotional steps in future. I withdraw all my oral and written statements made in connection with the return of my salary and transfer," he said.
BRABU registrar R K Thakur told this newspaper that he has already received the letter of apology. Further action in the matter would be initiated by the university on receipt of the reply of the college principal to the explanation asked from him by the university's vice-chancellor.
Meanwhile, some Muzaffarpur-based college teachers claimed that had the registrar accepted the cheque offered by Lalan, it would have bounced as there was only a balance of Rs968 in his State Bank (Mithanpura branch) account. The registrar, however, did not confirm it. Thakur said he had no idea about the money in Kumar's bank account as he did not accept the cheque.
It may be recalled that Lalan hogged the limelight a couple of days back when he went to the BRABU registrar to return a sum of nearly Rs24 lakh (through a cheque) which he had received towards his salary for the entire period of his service.
College authorities, however, claimed that both offline and online classes were being held regularly and students were attending all their classes. Even Lalan Kumar has engaged classes both in offline and online mode. He did all the drama just to draw the attention of the media and exert pressure on the authorities concerned for getting him transferred to the institution of his choice, they said.