“People are appointed in the university just for their loyalty to the state government. A retired Superintendent of Police was adjusted as Director Security by a former chief minister for his political connection to his party, who draws a fat salary for doing nothing,” adds the office bearer. University has a serving DSP as chief security officer who looks after security matters.
Kashmir University may be the only university where VC has a security advisor. The VC also likes to be followed by a turbaned guard and a fleet of cars, getting a royal aura.
Another such appointment by the VC is of a special secretary, who sources say, does not qualify the prescribed eligibility criteria. “He gets dual salary, for being special secretary as well as coordinator of e-governance,” said an insider.
Research
As the university authorities indulge themselves, its basic purpose -academics- suffers. An M Phil degree is a one year course in any university but it takes more than two in KU, jeopardising careers and wasting research scholars’ time. “I have been doing M Phil for the last three years but still the interview is not in sight,” says a scholar wishing anonymity.
Many students prefer universities outside Kashmir to save time.
Seminar shows
Many faculty members complain that the university holds too many seminars and conferences, which they say hamper the curricular activities and add to the expenses. “Five or six prestigious seminars are good but when you have them in scores, seminars lose significance and become a platform for politicians to vitiate the intellectual spectre of the university,” bemoans a professor in the faculty of Science.
Some say that at the core of having scores of seminars is Punjabi’s obsession with remaining in news.
Terrible work culture
Till a few years back KU would attract talent from outside, whose presence would immensely improve the quality of education and research. “Now teachers like Aal Ahmad Saroor, Manzoor-ul-Amin, Rayees Akhter, Mushir-ul-Haq, Majid Hussain are not coming here. Appointments are now made within university. A person is appointed as assistant proffessor and after ten years he or she is promoted as associate professor and then professor. No efforts are done to attract or motivate outside talent to teach at KU”, says a teacher in Urdu department.
Lobbyism and infighting has marred the students’ careers as well. Dissent is not tolerated and punishment is swift. Students of many departments allege that their teachers are miser with allotting marks. Students of English department are more vocal, who say that almost nobody gets above 55 percent marks. So it surprises few, when Public Service Commission selection lists of English lecturers bear names of Jammu University alumni in bulk.
There is a widespread allegation that nobody bothers to work in the university. “There are at least a dozen research scholars in the university whose research has been complete for about six months but their work is not evaluated as their guides are not interested,” said a lecturer. “Some of them (guides) are incompetent and some are more interested in their personal engagements. Scholars can’t raise their voice for obvious reasons.”
Student politics
The university kicked up another controversy by banning students union. The authorities demolished the union office along with office documents with bulldozers. Officials said the students union was banned and no ‘politics’ was allowed in university due to the sensitive nature of the region.
Vice Chancellor Riyaz Punjabi while backing the ban said that he won’t allow JNU or Jammu university type politics in the campus. “What if tomorrow separatist parties would want to set up their union,” said Punjabi.
Now the authorities are hounding the students who had dared to stand up against their decision. “Police and proctor office staff raid our hostel, almost daily, to harass us,” said a student. “They have even sent CIK people to homes of students who were at the forefront of protests.”
“Extra curbs, rules and regulations are simply killing the spirit of a vibrant university, wherefrom future of any nation emerges,” opined a senior professor.
Hostel accommodation
Last year more than a thousand students had applied for hostel accommodation. But due to the paucity of rooms only 197 could get the facility. This year the situation is worst with hostel rooms remaining stagnant and aspirants running into thousands.
