An RTI activist has demanded the authorities concerned to remove the current vice-chancellor of Manipur Technical University (MTU) Bhabeswar Tongbram from the said post on the alleged charges of misconduct, incompetent, dishonesty, fraudulent and immoral.
During press conference at Manipur Press Club on Tuesday, co-convenor of Movement for People’s Right, Right to Information Act, Wahengbam Joykumar Singh alleged that the appointment of Tongbram Bhabeswar as vice chancellor of MTU is not competent and totally against the norm of university grant commission. This discrepancy has come to be noticed through RTI filed by him, he said, adding that as the state government always claimed of a corruption free governance, there is high expectation and hope that authorities concerned would surely take action against him and remove him from the said post.
He continued and informed that as per UGC norms, a VC should be the one who is distinguished in academic line. But on the contrary, Bhabeswar was a senior lecturer in Government Polytechnic listed in the Sl. No. 16 of the Final Inter-se-Seniority list published in the year 2018. The said VC is not working in any college or University but just a mere lecturer of a polytechnic which is equivalent to intermediate institute below degree, he said.
In connection with PhD degree certificate, he had pursued a Phd in History from Manipur University. But surprisingly, his degree is engineering. PhD Degree in History is not equivalent to PhD Degree in engineering or technology. As such, even in this, he is not fit to be appointed as VC of the said varsity, he added.
He also alleged that Bhabeswar Tongbram had failed to obtain required permission/approval/leave sanction order from the competent authority allowing for undergoing further studies of PhD in History from Manipur University, Canchipur. Therefore, his act of doing PhD will be considered as null and void.
Joykumar said that education is the backbone of society. Conducting such kind of discrepancies in the only technical university of Manipur is unfortunate. The state government should take stringent action against such irregularities in the interest of the students' community.
