Former PUST proctor files defamation case against ex-VC

Former proctor of Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST) Awal Kabir Joy yesterday filed a defamation case of Tk 50 crore against its immediate past vice chancellor Prof Rostom Ali.

In the case filed with a Pabna court, Awal Kabir alleged that Prof Rostom, then VC of PUST, did not allow him to take part in a regent board meeting in 2019.

Advocate Sultana Rajia Tultuli, lawyer of Awal Kabir Joy, said the court of additional chief judicial magistrate accepted the case and ordered the accused to appear before it on September 1.

Citing the case, the plaintiff said the former VC did not grant him and Prof Abdul Alim to join a regent board meeting of the university on December 23, 2019, although they were its members.

Awal Kabir said on August 17, 2020, PUST acting registrar Bijon Kumar Brammah issued a notice, informing him that the regent board meeting took a decision that he could not discharge any administrative duty.

Rostom Ali, however, said this was all to harass or defame him. He did everything according to the regent board's decision.

"The ministry was inquiring against him, so the regent board took such a decision," Rostom said.