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To
The Vice-Chancellor
Aligarh Muslim University
Respected Sir,
As the ongoing agitation of teachers is now preparing to go on indefinite strike when the semester exams are about to be held, it is necessary to know the root of the origin of the ongoing teachers’ agitation. It is quite certain that the detractors have been given an opportunity by the VC himself. There is no justification for delay in the Selection Committee, most of the advertisements have been willfully expired, and they are not being re-advertised.
Most provocative is the malafide attempt at doing away with the Screening Committee for placement of lecturers in Senior Scale, for which, again there is no justification. The AMU ordinances formulated in accordance with the UGC rules envisaged in the 5th Pay Report, which is about to be replaced by 6th Pay Report are for screening. The JMI has adopted it (by doing away with Selection Committee). Moreover, a lecturer with Ph. D reaches the scale of 10,200/- after 4 years of service i.e. eligibility for senior scale (having done Orientation course during these 4 years). S/he, gets basic pay of 10,000/- in the senior scale. So, this in itself suggests against making the process unnecessarily complex and expensive and time taking and thereby inflicting inordinate delay. Apart from the legal (rules/ordinances) justifications, administrative prudence also advices against antagonizing a section of teachers and playing into the hands of the detractors, the management of whom requires greater dependence of the VC on his sycophants, which causes erosion of VC’s credibility. In fact everybody on the campus is surprised by the tactical un-wisdom of the VC, Azis, whose insistence on doing away with the screening process is unnecessarily creating huge discomfitures for him alone.
Composition of the agitating leadership is also worth x-raying. It consists of two irreconcilable factions. Of which, one consists of 50% of the elected representatives of the teachers in the Executive Council (EC). This leadership is facing (unstoppable?) serious erosion of its support base (losing to the other 50% of the elected representatives of the teachers in the EC, who are indiscreetly loyal to the VC, Azis). This particular faction/gang is notorious for having thrived on violation/manipulation of rules in extracting patronage for its camp-followers. Ever since,
(a) Strict implementation of the UGC-JRF/NET for recruitment as lecturer,
(b) recruiting Guest Faculties by doing away with the Local Selection Committee (LSC) on full scale (to obtain exemptions from appearing before the LSC after 3 such exercises) and thereby rigging the permanent placements, and
(c) Enforcement of RTI Act,
This notorious gang is undergoing huge crises of survival. This gang has always thrived on its proximity with the VCs [or in adverse circumstances it has prudently gone in brief hibernation]. This time, having been denied that crucial proximity [despite loudly claiming to be the ‘king maker’ in the process of the empanelment of the incumbent VC in April-May 2007], this notorious gang is left with no other course but to go for agitation politics, espousing the legitimate grievances of the teachers.
In this backdrop, if at all the VC sincerely wishes to tame/subdue this notorious gang, he should not offer any such issue to this gang of detractors and thereby he should avoid playing into their hands.
Hiring another section of teachers (elected EC members) can not help the VC for long. In 1992, in a similar situation, the then VC, tried to intimidate the agitating teachers by hiring a gang of the teachers (espousing shameful loyalty with the VC), but it got thoroughly exposed & discredited, and then the VC had to abandon the loyalist teachers only to seek rescue for himself by hiring lumpen students. Needless to say, it proved all the more dangerous resulting into an ignominious undoing/exit of the VC, M.N. Faruqi, [despite the fact that he rendered yeoman services like bringing so many professional courses, fund, computerization etc], condemned in the editorials of the national English dailies.
It also needs to be added here that the gang leader (of the loyalist teachers) also withered away from the campus. Incidentally, a left-over of that villainous and self destructive gang is now secretly wagging his tails behind the present couple of loyalist (elected teacher members of EC, who resorted to unruly activities on 4th Nov’08). It is more dangerous for the present VC, Azis to have ‘hired’ this gang of loyalist due also to the fact that the acting Finance Officer happens to be a close relative of this man, who has already created so many financial (&??) scandals against the VC, Azis. [This tail wagging Professor CLAIMS (only claims) to represent the ‘vocal’ section and second highest represented province in AMU]
The Way Out: a) Immediately start screening process for placement in senior scale; (b) Announce the schedule of selection committees for different Faculty/Departments of studies, (c) Re-advertise the expired vacancies. All these three efforts will lead to desertions of whatever support base (particularly among few Guest Faculties) is left with the agitating elected teacher members of the EC. His politics of agitation and widely reported ‘fight’ with the VC is making desertions unstoppable. This faction is fighting very hard for survival. In order to get rid of this gang, the VC should no longer insist on taking imprudent, unwise steps, he should allay the misgivings of the aggrieved teachers before 24th November (the next GBM), so that the agitating leader does not take the credit of the fulfillment of the legitimate demand.
Waiting for Reply soon
Zafar Khan
H-104, Batla House, new Delhi-25
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