SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Dec 19: Office-bearers of teachers’ associations in different universities of the state have dumped the organisational poll to glue on the posts for a long time.
The elections have been due for a long time in Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) Hazaribag, Sido Kanhu Murmu University (SKMU) Dumka and Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University (BBMKU) Dhanbad but the poll is nowhere in sight in near future.
As per the official record, the teachers’ body election in VBU Hazaribag has been pending since 2016. The last time, it was held in 2013-14 in which Prof Balbir Singh Sidhu and Prof BN Singh were elected as president and secretary respectively. After that, the election should have been conducted in 2016. Prof BN Singh switched to BBMKU Dhanbad in 2017 while Prof Sidhu retired in 2021 and the election fell into limbo.
However, the VBU postgraduate (PG) teachers’ association holds elections timely. In April 2022, a new body was elected with Prof KK Gupta and Dr Binod Ranjan as president and secretary respectively. Dr Sukalyan Mitra and Subodh Singh were elected as vice presidents. Outgoing president Prof Kaushalendra Kumar said that the PGTA poll is held timely every two years.
Meanwhile, In SKMU Dumka, the election is due for almost three years. It was held in 2018 in which Prof Balgovind Kashyap and Prof Santosh Kumar Sil were elected as president and secretary respectively.
“We are not glued to the posts. Due to Covid-19, the election was not held in 2020 and 2021. But now we are talking with all units to decide the venue of the poll and also trying to elect new office–bearers unanimously without any dispute,“ said Prof Sil.
He further said that the implementation of the 7th pay scale, medical, and HRA for teachers in SKMU are some of the achievements of the outgoing committee. However, the body has more work pending to execute. The election of SKMU PGTA is up-to-date. Prof S Soren and Prof A Kumari are the president and secretary respectively.
AT BBMKU Dhanbad too, the election is pending for three years due to Covid. The last time it was held was in 2018 in which Prof RK Tiwary and Dr Himanshu Shekhar Choudhary were elected president and secretary respectively. After that, the election should have been held in 2020. Though in October 2022, the outgoing committee had announced to hold the election after the Chhath festival (November), until now, no steps have been initiated in this direction.
The poll of PGTA in BBMKU is also due. In the 2019 election, Prof Seema Sinha and Prof LB Paliwal were elected the president and secretary respectively. The election for a new body is not in sight anytime soon.
However, the teachers’ body of Ranchi University and Kolhan University hold elections timely. Prof Rajkumar and Prof Dhirendra are the president and secretary respectively. Meanwhile, the poll of RU PGTA is up-to-date. Prof Ranjita Hembrom and Prof Binod Ranjan were recently elected as the president and secretary.
In Kolhan University, PG teachers don’t have an association but college teachers held a poll in 2021 in which Prof Rajendra Bharti and Prof Indal Paswan were elected the president and secretary.
