The vice-chancellor of the state-aided Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology on Monday did not allow the registrar to attend office saying the incumbent had completed 60 years, which the VC contended was the age of retirement.
The VC did this despite the higher education department on June 24 communicating to him that the retirement age for the registrar had been raised to 62 through a government order issued in August 2018.
The department’s communication was based on legal opinion on whether the retirement age of registrar Parthapratim Lahiri could be raised to 62 years.
VC Tapas Chakrabarti discounted the legal opinion and wrote to the department on June 26 seeking the government order stating that the retirement age had been raised.
He had in the intervening period appointed Indranil Mukherjee, a professor of the university, as officiating registrar and issued a release order to Lahiri.
As the department’s order stating that Lahiri’s retirement age had been raised did not come during office hours on Monday, the VC did not let Lahiri enter his office.
Chakrabarti, who was appointed VC last year by the governor allegedly without consulting the department, said: “The legal opinion, to me, was inconclusive. I received the order on Monday evening and he has since been reinstated.”