A group of appointment seekers, whose appointment letters were suspended a day after issuance, kept the entrance gates of the university’s administrative and senate buildings, and the vice-chancellor’s residence under key and lock demanding withdrawal of the suspension of their joining offers.
At least 30 appointment seekers, out of 141 appointed against different posts by immediate-past vice-chancellor Abdus Sobhan on his last working day violating the education ministry order, locked the entrance gates.
Campus sources said that the agitators locked the entrance gates of the university administrative building and senate building at about 9:00am.
According to the university registrar office sources, a meeting of the finance committee was scheduled to take place on Saturday while that of syndicate was scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
One of the agitators, Atiqur Rahman Sumon, a former member of the central Bangladesh Chhatra League and former vice-president of the RU unit BCL, told New Age that they came to know that the university authority would recommend to cancel their appointments at the university’s upcoming syndicate meeting.
‘If the meeting of the finance committee took place, syndicate meeting would take place. Therefore, we have locked the gates to foil the finance committee meetings’, he added.
RU acting vice-chancellor Professor Ananda Kumar Saha told New Age that he heard that the recently appointed officers and employees locked the gates of the university administrative and senate buildings.
‘I have been suspecting for last few days that such incidents may take place over the finance and syndicate meetings. That is why I informed the police through the proctor. Local political leaders in Rajshahi are also aware about the issue. Necessary steps will be taken after talking to everyone in the administration,’ he added.
The immediate-past vice-chancellor Sobhan allegedly illegally issued appointment letters to nine teachers, 23 section officers, 24 office assistants and 85 Class III and Class IV employees on May 5, defying a government ban on appointment in the university amid the allegations of gross corruption.
Most of them are leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of ruling Awami League.
On the day when the appointments were made, the education ministry declared the appointments made by Sobhan illegal and formed a committee to investigate the alleged irregularities.
Later, the RU authorities suspended the joining of the 141 people as the education ministry declared the appointment illegal.
Recently, the committee submitted its probe report to the education ministry, where it found Sobhan mainly made the appointments illegally and recommended the ministry for taking further steps to ensure legal actions.
