Succumbing to mounting pressure from the students who had been staging protests on the Kalina campus for the last one fortnight, the Mumbai University on Sunday finally revoked the suspension of senior Econometrics professor Dr Neeraj Hatekar.
After a 10-hour-long meeting between the management council and the Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University Rajan Welukar, the MU administration ordered reinstatement of Prof. Hatekar in his post. Prof Hatekar was suspended from his post on January 4, after he held a news conference on December 12 and “exposed” the mismanagement of affairs in the University. He had blamed University vice Welunkar for the “sorry state of affairs” in the University.
Taking up cudgels for the suspended professor, students owing allegiance to the University Community for Democracy and Equality (UCDE) went on an indefinite agitation since January 6, demanding the revocation of “unjust” suspension of Prof Hatekar. Apart from staying away from classes on the Kalina campus, the agitating students had threatened to go on a mass hunger strike on January 20.
Undeterred by his suspension, the fire-band Prof Hatekar held lectures for students outside the Kalina campus gate for three days. However, ahead of the proposed fast by the agitating students, Maharashtra Governor K Sankarnarayanan, who is chancellor of the MU, intervened in the matter and asked the Vice Chancellor to resolve the impasse over Prof Hatekar’s suspension amicably.
Following the Governor’s intervention, the Vice Chancellor held a meeting with the University’s Management Council members. The meeting, which began on Saturday evening, continued till the wee hours of Sunday. At the meeting, the Vice Chancellor and Management Council decided to appoint retired judge of the Bombay High Court D G Deshpande to hold an inquiry into the circumstances leading to Prof Hatekar’s suspension. The Management Council urged the Vice chancellor to give a personal hearing to Prof Hatekar.
Pending an inquiry into charges against suspended professor, the University decided to reinstate Prof Hatekar in view of growing demand from students. The students’ outfit UCDE, which was spear-heading the protests against the suspension of Prof Hatekar, described the reinstatement of the suspended Econometrics professor as a “victory of our collective strength and organization”.
“The protests organized by us were an embarrassment for the University authorities, because the agitation exposed the simmering discontent among the MU students. The UCDE has always believed that the issue of Prof. Hatekar was not simply an issue of suspension of a teacher; it was an issue of Campus Democracy. Therefore, the revocation of suspension is a victory for Campus Democracy,” the UCDC said in a statement issued in the evening.
The UCDE is organizing a “victory march” of students, teachers and employees of the University on the Kalina campus on Monday morning, to celebrate the reinstatement of suspended Prof Hatekar.