Recruits of ex-VC halt demos at RU
Many of the 137 illegal recruits at Rajshahi University (RU), who were recruited by former vice chancellor Prof Abdus Sobhan, called off their demonstrations yesterday evening, after discussions with the authorities.
Sources said some 50 staffers, mostly former and current Chhatra League (BCL) leaders, locked the VC's residence on Tuesday evening and held a sit-in, demanding suspension of a syndicate committee meeting and letting them join work.
Though the authority suspended the meeting that night, demonstrators continued their movement till yesterday evening.
Mahafuz Al Amin, one of the demonstrators and vice-president of RU BCL, told The Daily Star, "After talking to the proctor body, we have decided to halt our demonstration for now. Authorities have called for a discussion with us tomorrow [today] at 11am."
Earlier, talking to this newspaper, RU acting VC Prof Ananda Kumar Saha said, "We have been requesting them to withdraw the demonstration through the proctor body, but they continued it. So, I have informed the education ministry and urged them to resolve the issue as soon as possible."
When asked about recruitment, he said, "We do not have such authority to sanction the recruitment. We have to follow the education ministry's order regarding the matter."
On June 19, RU authorities were forced to suspend their financial committee meeting, after the aggrieved recruits locked the administrative building, senate building and VC's residence.
On June 20, they confined treasurer Prof Akm Mostafizur Rahman Al Arif to his office for four hours.
The next day, some local Awami League leaders met the university authority and held a discussion to resolve the situation. After the meeting, the recruits declared to postpone their movement, as the local leaders told them that they will work to meet their demands.
On May 31, they confined four top university officials, including the acting VC, in a similar fashion and demanded they be allowed to join work.
On his last day in office on May 6, Prof Sobhan recruited at least 137 people, including nine teachers, sparking protests on campus. The education ministry termed the recruitment illegal on the same day and initiated an investigation.
On May 8, the RU administration suspended the recruitment process.
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