Suspended but drama not over yet : Extracting last pound of flesh ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 20 2018 -

Suspended finally. So is this the end of the ugly drama at Manipur University after the demand to remove AP Pandey as the VC of the varsity was raised by Manipur University Students’ Union on May 30 this year ?

Many would like to think so and here is hoping that the suspension of the VC will pave the way for normalcy to return to the varsity.

Remember however that the two men inquiry committee formed to probe the charges against him is yet to submit its report and going by the universal acceptance, Pandey will be deemed to be innocent until proven guilty.

However placing him under suspension is a move in the right direction for remember the university has been paralysed since May 30 and the brief lull in the agitation was given a fresh lease of life when AP Pandey returned and resumed office from September 1, defeating the spirit of the MoA signed between MUSU, MUTA, MUSA and the Union Ministry of HRD on August 17.

The MoA underlined that Pandey should go on leave pending the submission of the probe report and what one sees today is from the leave given to the VC today he stands suspended.

In the more than 100 days stand off witnessed at MU, it became clear that AP Pandey has clout, strong clout and this was the reason why it took so long for the whip to be cracked.

Remember the entire MU community stood against him and the petty politics of putting one group of students against the other obviously did not work.

Same too was the tactics employed to politicise the office of the Registrar in charge of MU.

What however became clear is the fact that Pandey could cling onto his post for so long as he is thought to be close to the power centres.

This is what has led many to toe the line of thinking that appointment to the post of VC of MU today seems more like a political appointment rather than an appointment to an academic post which entails administrative works.

This is the tragedy and it is only right that the MU community take a step back and study how AP Pandey came here as the VC of MU.

Lessons ought to be learnt from what happened at MU in the last more than 100 days and if these lessons are not learnt then there is every possibility that the next man will be someone who the Centre chooses.

Would anyone at MU like that to happen is the question that follows.

Moreover there is also the question of what happens if the probe team finds nothing wrong with AP Pandey ?

Will the university community accept the finding of the probe team then ?

This question should not be brushed aside as a speculative poser for such a thing becoming a reality is a possibility.

That anything is possible may be gauged from the latest development which shows that the Centre does not seem to know what its right hand is doing from its left.

It was after the MoA was signed on August 17 that Professor W Vishwanath was appointed as the VC in charge and AP Pandey was sent on leave.

Now that AP Pandey has been suspended the Centre has now appointed Pro-VC Professor K Yugindro as the VC in charge.

Or is this a means to let AP Pandey extract his last pound of flesh ?