CUJ Revokes Professor’s Suspension

Ranchi: The Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ) on Thursday revoked the suspension of Associate Professor Shreya Bhattacharji.

Bhattacharji was suspended earlier this week for having invited a retired JNU academic, mistakenly linked to alleged anti-national activities in Delhi, for a CUJ campus event. She was also blamed for cancellation of the Governor Droupadi Murmu’s visit during the event. The Governor was expected to attend the three-day event.

The varsity also issued a corrigendum on its earlier suspension order in the wake of Raj Bhavan's intervention yesterday. Governor Droupadi Murmu had taken umbrage over the inappropriate use of her name while serving the suspension order to Bhattacharji on Monday. The suspension order had stated that governor Murmu had backed out of the March 19 birth anniversary celebrations of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel because Bhattacharji had extended an invite to M.N. Panini.

The recall order, issued on Thursday, following a report submitted by a three-member inquiry committee in the morning, however, states that it was a "genuine lapse" on part of the English professor to extend an invite to academic M.N. Panini without written permission from CUJ vice chancellor Nand Kumar Yadav ‘Indu’ and that the reprieve was being offered because the lapse was not “intentional”. CUJ V-C Prof Nand Kumar Yadav said: “The inquiry report was submitted to me today and the suspension of Bhattacharji has been revoked with immediate effect.”

Panini recalled Bhattacharji had approached him in November last year to deliver a lecture. He said: “Due to reasons known to CUJ, it kept postponing the event till March (2016). Then, the VC had called me personally to invite me.”