Administrative Crisis Grips North Bengal University Amidst Absence of Officials

To the great dismay of its staff, students, and faculty, North Bengal University (NBU), the oldest university in the area, has been operating without any administrative officers.

They claim that because several officials' terms are expiring in the upcoming month, the issue will get worse.

Since February 20, C.M. Ravindran, the acting vice-chancellor, has not visited the NBU headquarters in Shivmandir, which is close by.

"No one knows when he will arrive, and he is not even on campus. Conversely, the acting registrar hasn't been on campus since February 27. Furthermore, no one is left to supervise the academic work as the periods of two deans—one would oversee the scientific departments, and the other would oversee the arts, commerce, and law departments—ended on February 21st, according to a source at the NBU.

In addition to the impact that their absence is having on academic and administrative work, contract and casual workers have been holding a two-week-long protest under the Sara Bangla Trinamul Shikshabandhu Samiti banner. They have been seeking raises, and on March 6 they even forced the closure of the varsity's watch and ward facility, which put an end to all operations there.

The staff members wanted the standoff to end, according to Ranjit Roy, the joint convener of the samiti's NBU section.

"The acting registrar and the VC have been missing for several days. How the varsity can function in this way," he exclaimed.

The campus director, Pranab Ghosh, acknowledged that a number of issues had emerged at the NBU. "We're attempting to manage the circumstance," he declared.

According to a senior faculty member, the lack of the VC has caused administrative functions pertaining to research to cease.

"Research scholars have submitted their papers, but because the VC's signature is missing, everything has come to a halt. He stated that many people are still unable to register their PhD scholarship work.

The teachers anticipate that things will get more challenging in the days ahead.

This is due to the fact that on March 19 the acting registrar and finance officer's six-month term will come to an end. In addition, the interim vice chancellor assumed leadership on October 5 and will leave in the first week of April. A varsity teacher stated, "If people are not put in their posts, the situation would get more complicated."

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