Update on the Prof. Rajeev Kumar case

Dear Colleagues

An update on Prof. Rajeev Kumar’s case, by which the last of IIT Kharagpur’s locus standi in Prof. Rajeev Kumar’s case has now disappeared. JNU must now reinstate Prof. Kumar!

IIT Kharagpur’s Inquiry set aside

Prof. Kumar emerges as an unsung hero yet again — a lone man, victimised for blowing the whistle against corruption, he has been subjected to a travesty of inquiry and dealt a punishment of compulsory retirement, by a Committee that didn’t even give him a chargesheet. He appealed to the Visitor to set aside this inquiry, and on no response, got a stay on implementation of the punishment.

Meanwhile, as his life and liberty were constantly under threat in Kanpur, he moved to JNU in 2015. But in 2016, as soon as JNU started proceeding to confirm him after a year, IIT Kgp started demanding him back, saying the stayed punishment was not a settled issue.

In May-June 2017, JNU suddenly joined in to victimise Prof. Kumar. The VC cancelled his lien — something which he could NOT have done legally — and effectively terminated his employment in JNU. JNUTA and Prof. Rajeev Kumar took the matter to EC members, and in a rate victory, the JNU EC refused to ratify the VC’s decision. But the JNU VC is yet to reinstate him.

By this report, the Hon. ex-President Pranab Mukherjee in his last few days set aside IIT’s unjust inquiry, vindicating years of Prof. Rajeev Kumar’s struggle against corruption and injustice. The question is how much more of a price is Prof. Kumar going to be made to pay. Today, he receives no salary, his lab is closed to him, he lives in rented accommodation, his wife and mother both passed away recently. All because he believes that public money demands accountability.

Prof. Rajeev Kumar doesn’t need JNUTA to stand with him. It is JNUTA’s honour entirely. And it is the JNU VC’s eternal shame that he would rather serve the interest of an old boys’ club than the law, and the Statutes of JNU.