Anil Sutar, the officiating registrar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, on Tuesday issued an order appointing himself as professor and head of administration of the university, The Hindu reported.
In the order, Sutar also said that Narendra Mishra would be taking over the office of the officiating registrar. He added that Mishra would be directly reporting to him, Pro Vice Chancellor Shankar Das and Vice Chancellor Manoj Kumar Tiwari.
Following this, an unidentified faculty member told The Hindu that this was a case of a person leaving office and initiating an order in his interest.
“This is a case of Anil Sutar making himself more powerful,” the faculty member said. “This is anarchic. No university as such has a professor heading the office of the registrar.”
The announcement on Tuesday came a day after Sutar issued another order banning the student organisation Progressive Students’ Forum from campus. The notice claimed that the forum was “defaming” the institute and “creating divisions” among students and faculty.
The forum is affiliated with the Students Federation of India, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The institute prohibited members of the forum from conducting or participating in events on campus, warning that such steps would be met with “immediate intervention and consequences”.
It said: “Any student or faculty member found supporting, associating with, or propagating the group’s divisive ideologies will be subject to disciplinary action as outlined in our institute policies.”
Responding to the ban order, a member of the Progressive Students’ Forum told Scroll that the decision was “politically motivated” and that the institute was “completely provoked” by the campaigns taken up by the organisation.
Other student organisations on campus, including the Adivasi Students’ Forum, the Ambedkarite Students’ Association, the Fraternity Movement, the Muslim Students’ Forum and the Northeast Students’ Forum, issued a joint statement condemning the ban.
Sutar’s order on Tuesday also came nearly two months after the institute sent notices to 55 teaching faculty members and 60 non-teaching staffers, stating that their contracts would not be renewed “in the event of non-receipt of approval/ grant from Tata Education Trust”.
Following a backlash, the institute withdrew the termination notices saying that there had been a “positive development” about the funds from the trust and that it had released Rs 4.79 crore to it.
However, the institute only extended the terms of the faculty members and non-teaching staffers for another six months rather than reinstating them.
In March, the students’ union at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences had expressed concerns about freedom of expression after the restrictions were placed on student activities. It also criticised the “unprofessional, insensitive communication” issued by the administration in the matter.
Also read: How the government undercut TISS over the past decade
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