News Analysis India

Tag: Jagadish Mukhi

  • Congress urges Assam Governor to stop Darrang eviction till rehabilitation announced

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Congress leaders met Assam Governor Jagadish Mukhi on Friday, urging him to stop the eviction drive at Sipajhar in Darrang till a proper rehabilitation package is announced, after two people were killed and over 20 people injured in police firing.

    Submitting a memorandum, the party also demanded suspension of Deputy Commissioner Prabhati Thaosen and SP Sushanta Biswa Sarma, who is the younger brother of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, besides seeking an inquiry into the incident by a sitting judge.

    The state government has ordered an inquiry into the incident that happened on Thursday by a retired judge of the Gauhati High Court, though the name of the judge was yet to be announced.

    ​ALSO READ | 12-hour bandh to protest eviction drive deaths hits normal life in Assam’s Darrang

    An all-party meeting along with stakeholders should be immediately called to strategise and plan a rehabilitation and compensation program for the evicted people of Goroikhuti, Dholpur and other villages, the Congress said.

    “The Chief Minister, despite holding a constitutional post who has taken oath to serve and protect all citizens, has behaved in a biased manner by constantly giving provocative statements which have made matters worse,” it alleged.

    Sarma’s statement of giving full authority to police to do firing has given them the “license to kill”, besides having the potential of turning Assam into a police state, it added.

    The Congress delegation was led by its state unit president Bhupen Bora.

    ​ALSO READ | Assam police firing on ‘encroachers’: Video shows official photographer hitting dead man

    “Congress strongly condemns the most barbaric act of police firing and inhumane act on protesters during the state government’s eviction drive…..The manner in which a protester is ruthlessly beaten to death ‘in camera’ by police personnel and subsequent violence on the deceased protester by the cameraman in presence of police is horrifying,” Bora said.

    The lone protestor could have been easily overpowered by more than 40 police personnel who were present but “to shoot a lone distraught protestor who is losing his hearth and home is brutally inhuman.

    The police should have tried to pacify him instead of killing him at point blank range”, the Congress said.

    The party also demanded that the cameraman and the police personnel who took part in the barbaric act should be given exemplary punishment, while the deceased and the injured must be adequately compensated.

    Earlier in the day, Congress leaders and workers protested outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office at district headquarter Mangaldoi.

    The district administration has cleared 602.4 hectares of land and evicted 800 families since Monday and demolished four “illegally” constructed religious structures at Sipajhar.

  • Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi suspends KKHSOU VC Kandarpa Das

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has suspended the vice chancellor of Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), Kandarpa Das for alleged irregularities during his tenure as the director of Gauhati University Institute of Distance and Open Learning (GUIDOL) from 2010-17, a Raj Bhavan communique said on Saturday.

    The irregularities were regarding continuation of 21 unapproved courses in GUIDOL during the period which was reflected in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, it said.

    The governor suspended Das in his capacity as Chancellor ofHSOU and handed over temporary charge to Nripendra Narayan Sarma, the professor of department of management of the university till further orders.

    The executive council of Gauhati University had appointed Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia as a one-man commission to enquire into all aspects pertaining to the CAG report in connection with continuation of unapproved courses of GUIDOL.

    After going through the report, the governor who is also chancellor of Gauhati University, is of the opinion that the then Director of GUIDOL (Das) was well aware regarding continuation of the alleged unapproved courses, the communique said.

    The governor is also of the opinion that the courses were being run at the will of the then GUIDOL director without approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) which is mandatory, it added.

  • Dibrugarh University VC suspended over allegations of financial irregularities

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Governor Jagadish Mukhi on Thursday suspended the vice chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Ranjit Tamuli, with immediate effect over allegations of financial irregularities and misuse of public fund, a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan here said.

    The governor handed over the charge of the vice chancellor’s office to Dean, Faculty of Biological Sciences, RNS Yadav, who also happens to be the senior-most professor of the university.

    Notably, Dibrugarh University Teachers’ Association, along with other employee organisations of the university, and Lahowal MLA Rituparna Baruah had submitted petitions to Mukhi, alleging gross financial anomalies and misappropriation of funds by Tamuli.

    Not satisfied with the VC’s explanation, the governor constituted a four-member fact-finding committee, under the chairmanship of commissioner and secretary to the higher education department, Preetom Saikia, to ascertain the veracity of the allegations.

    After the panel submitted its report, the governor, in his capacity as the chancellor of Dibrugarh University, found “prima facie a case of grave misconduct, abuse of power and lack of commitment on the part of the vice chancellor”, the statement said.

    Mukhi, following the suspension of Tamuli, decided to appoint a high-level inquiry committee to look into the varsity’s functioning over the last five years, including matters related to financial transaction and administration.

    “The decision for immediate suspension has been taken to ensure that witnesses are not influenced or coerced in any way and material records of the university are not tampered with, and for ensuring a fair enquiry,” the Raj Bhavan release said.