The Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor has appointed a professor to the non-academic post of acting registrar after the incumbent went on medical leave and five joint registrars purportedly refused to take charge so that they were not linked to the controversy surrounding Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s ancestral home Pratichi.
VC Bidyut Chakraborty appointed Manabendranath Saha of the Bengali department on May 1, replacing Ashok Mahato. Saha will continue in the post till Mahato returns from leave or any other person takes charge.
“It is not usual to appoint a teacher to the post of the registrar, which is non-academic at Visva-Bharati. There are multiple joint registrars but no one was ready to take responsibility for a long period. So, finally, the VC selected Saha,” said a senior official of the central university.
The official said the ongoing controversy over Pratichi was a key reason for thejoint registrars’ refusal totake up the responsibility in Mahato’s absence.
“No one is willing to get involved with the varsity’s move against Amartya Sen as a large section of the civil society and residents of Santiniketan are miffed with Visva-Bharati’s action,” he added.
The official also said: “Mahato’s health condition is serious and he was hospitalised for a few days in Durgapur. So, it is uncertain whether he will resume his job soon as doctors have prescribed him rest.”
A varsity official aware of the development said Mahato would resume his job as soon as was declared fit to work. Visva-Bharati has advertised for the registrar’s post recently.
A section of senior officials on the campus said Mahato’s absence would affect the varsity’s move to evict the Nobel laureate from a stretch of Pratichi plot.
Mahato, who was also the estate officer and the varsity’s legal cell head, was behind the letters that asked Sen to return “encroached” land to Visva-Bharati. Mahato issued the final eviction order on April 19.
“He is the estate officer of the varsity and has been heading the legal cell for years. His absence is a setback for the VC, who has all but announced a war against Amartya Sen to please his bosses in Delhi. This situation is crucial for him as the varsity town will witness a series of programmes to protest against the varsity’s move to evict the Nobel laureate. The VC is certainly on the backfoot in the absence of an officer like Mahato,” said a senior faculty member of Visva-Bharati.
According to the eviction letter issued to Sen, Visva-Bharati threatened to use force to evict him from 13 decimals of land — which, according to the varsity, are under his “unauthorised” occupation — if he did not vacate the stretch on his own before May 6. Lawyers of Sen had already moved to the court of district judge Birbhum against the order and it would be heard on May 15.
Visva-Bharati’s acting public relations officer Mahua Banerjee, however, refused to comment on the appointment of Saha as the acting registrar.
Two separate civil society outfits have already lined up protests near Pratichi against Visva-Bharati’s move.
