SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Feb 7: The high court advocate, Rajeev Kumar, representing the National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Tuesday submitted a formal complaint against the appointment of Prof Dr Ajit Kumar Sinha as the Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University.
Prior to this, the NSUI had submitted a similar complaint at the Chief Minister’s office on February 3. However, the CM is yet to react on the issue.
Notably, the members of NSUI have claimed that VC Sinha obtained the post under Supreme Court’s order on writ petition (Civil) No. 1525 of 2019 and Civil Appeal No. 8184 of 2022, by providing misleading information to the Governor’s Secretariat. NSUI vice president Indrajeet Singh has demanded the VC be relieved of his post and inquiry be conducted into this issue.
In light of the disclosure made by student leader Indrajit Singh regarding the RU VC, advocate Kumar has requested that the evidence related to it should be released in the interest of the students and the university if the order passed by the Supreme Court and the provisions in Section 10 of the Jharkhand State University Act 2000 have been complied with. On the other hand, VC Sinha is yet to release any kind of answer or proof against the allegations levelled against him.
While talking to Lagatar24.com correspondent, Inderjeet Singh said, “On March 27, 2014, the International Sericulture Commission, Government of India has confirmed his posting as Scientist D in the self-attested bio-data of Ajit Kumar Sinha. The maximum pay scale fixed by the government for Dr Ajit Sinha as Scientist D is 15600-39100, Pay Band Grade Pay- 8700.”
“At the time of retirement, his self-certified maximum pay scale remained up to Level 13. He does not have the work experience of the Level 14 pay scale prescribed for Professor. Whereas, in the advertisement issued for the post of Vice-Chancellor, 10 years of professor or equivalent post-work experience is required, which is not confirmed by their records,” Singh added.
He further said that Dr Ajit Kumar Sinha did his MSc in Zoology from Ranchi University in 1981 with 50.5 percent marks. This is less than 52.5 percent of the prescribed qualification for lecturer appointments at that time.
He added that the advertisement for the vacant post of Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University along with other universities was issued on 23 February 2018. The advertisement states that a candidate should have 10 years of experience as a Professor or equivalent post, which is not clear from the records. Along with this, Prof Sinha was the director of Central Tasar Research and Training Centre, Ranchi for about two years and five months and retired from there on August 31, 2018, at the age of 60 years. The maximum pay scale of the post of Director is also not equal to the fixed pay scale of a Professor.
In such a situation, the judicial scrutiny of the certificates given by him in his appointment as Vice-Chancellor is important. Also, if Ajit Kumar Sinha has been appointed as per the order passed by the Supreme Court in 2019, then its information should be issued to the general public so that the dignity of the Governor’s Secretariat is maintained, commented Singh.
The Vice Chancellor could not be contacted today. However, speaking to Lagatar.in correspondent a couple of days back, Sinha had said that the allegations levelled against him were baseless. “My appointment has been done according to the rules and all my documents have also been checked. I was appointed only after going through all the process,” he added.
