The teachers’ association at IIEST has written to the director of the Shibpur institute to revoke an order based on which four teachers were showcaused on Wednesday after they took part in a protest march on the campus.
The association has mentioned in the letter to director Parthasarathi Chakarbarti that the institute has witnessed “shameless and discriminatory use of this order tearing apart the fundamental spirit and basic fabric of an academic institute”.
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to the director went unanswered.
The order which the letter refers to was issued on February 7, 2020, days after students and teachers of the institute had organised a rally against the Centre’s proposed citizenship matrix.
It reads: “Prior approval of the competent authority has to be taken for organising any programme within the institute campus. It is also to be noted that no banner, poster, notice etc be displayed in this institute without the approval of the competent authority.”
The four teachers who have been sent the showcause notice were among the 100-odd faculty members who had organised a march on the campus to protest alleged negligence of the authorities in maintaining academic and other infrastructure.
Tapendu Mandal, one of the four teachers, said the fundamental spirit and basic fabric of an academic institute entails an open atmosphere so a teacher or a student feels free to vent grievances.
The letter, signed by Manas Hira, president of the teachers’ association, says: “Although it might have appeared innocuous, you too might have witnessed the shameless and discriminatory use of this order….”
The teachers’ association, the letter says “urges you (the director) for the immediate revocation of the same order”.
A teacher said the march was organised because the administration had not taken any steps to address the concerns they had flagged before.
