Outrage After Four Professors From SAU Suspended

The suspension of four professors of South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi has created an uproar with professors from different universities calling the move a violation of rules.

Reports of four professors being suspended over allegations of misconduct emerged. They have been accused of “running a Marxist study circle and inciting student protest on campus”, according to a letter from the university.

The SAU has cited “misconduct”, after issuing show-cause notices, which accused them of “inciting students against… the interest of the University” in violation of the university’s code of conduct.

The suspensions come months after the university — an initiative of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) grouping — was rocked by student protests seeking an increase in the monthly stipend for Master’s and PhD programmes, among other demands.

The four professors suspended are Snehashish Bhattacharya (Faculty of Economics), Srinivas Burra (Faculty of Legal Studies), Irfanullah Farooqi (Faculty of Social Sciences), and Ravi Kumar (Faculty of Social Sciences).

An office order, dated June 16, states, “…there are allegations of misconduct under Regulation 17.8 and the code of conduct prescribed in the Bye Laws of the University… which need to be investigated…”

The show cause notices, sent to the faculty members in December, state that the faculty members “incited” students against “colleagues, the administration and against the interest of the University ''. They also ask if the faculty members were part of “Aijaz Ahmad Study Circle-A Marxist Study Circle Run by the Students of the South Asian University''.

The notices stated that a protesting student had circulated an email condemning the entry of Delhi Police into the campus. The suspended professors refused to comment on the issue.

The Citizen reached out to one of the lawyers of the suspended professors who said that the court has no jurisdiction in the matter as the university “enjoys immunity from litigation as it is an international university”.

“It is a classic example as to what happens when institutions are left to their own devices without court interference. In this case, the merit of their cases won’t matter to the court as the institution does not come under its jurisdiction,” the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, professor associations from various universities have called out SAU for their order. Condemning the action, Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) said the act was unacceptable, unjust, and an attempt to intimidate and spread fear among the teaching community.

“The suspension order served to four faculty members by the SAU administration is an attempt to intimidate and silence the faculty and the students who raise their voice against the arbitrary and authoritarian actions of the administration. The JNUTA stands in complete solidarity with the faculty of SAU in defending their rights to speak truth to power. It also stands in support of the students of the SAU who have been protesting against the gross act of injustice of the SAU administration,” JNUTA said in a statement.

Abha Dev Habib, Secretary, Democratic Teachers' Front also condemned the action by the university and said, “The University in violation of its Rules, Regulation and inter-governmental agreement has been run by Indians since 2010 and hence, the onus lies on India to project an inclusive image.”

She said such “troubling censorship and arbitrary punitive actions are undermining institutional integrity, damaging the democratic space of knowledge exchange, and violating the existing rules and regulations of accountability and procedural transparency”.

The SAU is an international university sponsored by the eight member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Earlier in Chanakyapuri, its campus was recently shifted to Maidan Garhi.

The international university was set up with India covering the capital investment and half of the operational costs, with the other half shared by the other seven SAARC nations. It offers Master’s and PhD courses to students of these nations. The university now has around 300 students.

Students have been protesting since October 2020 to seek an increase in the stipend for Master’s students from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 a month and the support for PhD students from Rs 25,000 to Rs 31,500 a month, on a par with the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). The students were also asking for representation in the forums to deal with sexual harassment. However, the university rejected all these demands.

Following the protests, the university expelled two students, rusticated two others and suspended one Bangladeshi student on November 3, 2022. Ammar Ahmad, an MA student who was rusticated, developed a psychiatric disorder and suffered a cardiac arrest.

The students had demanded the administration to cover the cost of medical bills for Ahmad. “They paid Rs 4 lakh out of 12 lakh and then refused to pay for his bills,” Ahmad’s friend Nehal told The Citizen. Ahmad was in critical condition for months and is slowly recovering and has filed a police complaint against the administration.

The University had at the time said that “none of the said students ever approached the said Mechanism for addressing their any grievances”. Comments were sought from the university administration, to which they said, “Since there are allegations of misconduct against four faculty members, they have been placed under suspension in terms of the SAARC Intergovernmental Agreement, Rules, Regulations and/or Bye Laws, including the Intergovernmental Regulation 17.8** on Professional Code of Conduct and the Bye Laws on Professional Code of Conduct for Faculty Members.”