Opposing the FIR against teachers and former VC of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of journalism, over 300 professors including more than 15 Vice-chancellors and former Vice-Chancellors have written to the Vice-President urging to intervene in the matter.

In the letter, they said, “We, hereby, request the honorable Visitor of the University, the Vice President of India, to kindly immediately intervene in the matter and advice the Chairman, General Council of MCNUJC, to withdraw the FIR forthwith and stop harassment of the academicians.”

They stated that they are surprised and shocked at the Chairman, Governing Council, Makhanalal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal, instructing the Registrar of the University to lodge an FIR against the former Vice Chancellor and twenty existing faculty members on various un-investigated and unproved charges.

Extreme steps, such as lodging an FIR against University teachers, can and must logically follow an adequate enquiry and a notice seeking explanation. Even after that, as good practice, a full fledged impartial enquiry must be held because the concerned people are University teachers and highly responsible citizen as such.

They added, “We are afraid that this hasty action of the Chairman, Governing Council, MCNUJC would be seen as smacking of political vendetta. Since the required procedures have not been followed, the action is clearly untenable and will necessarily lead to prolonged litigation to the detriment of the academicians of the University. This may mean nothing to the Government, but this will amount to extremely uncalled for harassment of the teachers and their families. We are also not sure that, given the context, any Enquiry Committee that has been or may be setup by the University to provide a post facto rationale of its action, shall be sufficiently unbiased or objective. This will further undermine the credibility of the University and the Government.”

Therefore, we must submit that the FIR against teachers should be withdrawn immediately. While enquiring into the running of an institution is the privilege of the Government, it is equally incumbent on the Government to be fair and impartial to ensure justice is done to the teachers, they added.