Decision to resume class work triggers revolt in JUTA; 2 office bearers resign

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 29: Decision of the Jammu University Teachers Association (JUTA) to resume academic duties while continuing their protest for justice to Prof Chandra Shekhar, has triggered a revolt in the teachers body as its two office bearers today resigned from their respective posts.
Dr Ravinder Singh and Dr Manoj Bhat, who are Secretary and Vice-President, respectively of JUTA, today submitted their resignations to the Association President Prof Pankaj Srivastava claiming that they could not live upto the expectation of their colleagues.
“It is against my nature to stay silent when the injustice is being done. I am the last person who can take threats from people even if they are in power, especially after nothing short of an institutional murder has taken place and a cover up is being done right in front of our eyes,” writes Dr Manoj Bhat in his resignation letter.
Maintaining that it was a crime to stay silent and as an office bearer, he had become a mute spectator, Dr Bhat further said that had he not been an office bearer, he would have been more vocal and therefore, I was resigning from the post of vice-President.
Dr Ravinder Singh, in his resignation letter, has virtually accused JUTA of not living upto the expectation of the teachers and said that the death of Dr Chandra Shekhar in his office chamber on September 7 presented itself as an extraordinary situation that demanded an equally extraordinary response.
“Despite the efforts to the best of my abilities and inputs so far, I am conscious of failure to the bring justice to the deceased (Prof Chandra Shekhar) and of the fact that I could not live up to the expectation of JUTA members,” he writes in his resignation letter, adding that he was tendering his resignation purely on moral and ethical ground.
The development has come in wake of the JUTA decision to change the mode of ongoing protest for seeking CBI probe into the death of Prof Chandra Shekhar and action against those allegedly responsible for procedural lapses that led to the suicide.
As per change in mode of agitation, the university teachers have resumed all academic duties like delivering lectures and guiding research while wearing black badges and observing total non-cooperation with the university administration.