Tripura University VC Flouts MHRD Guidelines: Major Recruitment, Financial Decisions and Suspension Issued on Last Days of Tenure

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 16, 2025

Serious questions have surfaced over the legality and propriety of several last-minute decisions taken by the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Tripura University, who retired on August 15, 2025. Despite clear instructions from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) that Vice-Chancellors nearing the end of their tenure must refrain from taking any policy decisions

including recruitments

during the last two months of their service, the outgoing VC of Tripura University is reported to have made a series of controversial appointments, financial commitments, and even a suspension order in his final days in office.

According to MHRD’s directive dated March 6, 2020, and reiterated through earlier vigilance guidelines, Vice-Chancellors in their last two months are explicitly prohibited from undertaking policy decisions or recruitment processes. However, the outgoing Tripura University VC went ahead with large-scale recruitments and other actions.

In the week just before his retirement, the university conducted interviews and issued offers for nearly 30 non-teaching posts, as reflected in an official notification dated August 6, 2025. Sources also confirm that offers for certain Assistant Professor positions were issued during this restricted period. All of these were officially placed before the Executive Council meetings held on August 13 and 14, i.e., the penultimate and the very last working day of the Vice-Chancellor.

Adding to the controversy, on August 14, his final working day,

the VC issued a suspension order against the Executive Engineer of the university, Shri Krishna Das, after office hours. Shri Das, who has served the institution since 2014 with an unblemished record, was suspended without any show-cause notice or reason provided. More strikingly, this punitive action came just one day before the VC’s retirement.

These actions, taken in direct violation of MHRD’s standing orders, are now liable to be declared invalid and cancelled. Legal experts point out that such decisions not only contravene government directives but also breach the Tripura University Act, 2006.

To date, no official notification has been issued regarding the handing over of charge to the senior-most professor of the university as mandated under the Tripura University Act, leaving the institution in a state of administrative uncertainty.

The series of last-minute decisions

including bulk recruitments, financial commitments, and a controversial suspension order have sparked deep concern among the academic community, with many terming it a blatant misuse of authority at the twilight of his tenure.

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