The Bihar Assistant Professor of Hindi, who earlier had sought to return his salary of over ₹23 lakh for his teaching service for 33 months after listening to his “conscience”, now has tendered an apology to the university registrar saying he “voluntarily retract all his written and oral statements”.
“I was hurt as my request for transfer six times was not taken up. I was unable to control my emotion and offered the cheque for my entire salary amount. But, later, after talking to some seniors I realised I should not have done so. One needs to behave as per the rules and regulations of the University and college system.
“I’ll try my best not to take any step guided by emotion in future. I voluntarily retract all my written and oral statements”, said the Hindi assistant professor of Nitishwar college under Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU) in Muzaffarpur district, Lallan Kumar in his letter of apology.
Ever since Mr. Kumar had sought to return his salary amount alleging “abysmal attendance” of students in his college on the call of his “conscience” and created flutter, he had gone incommunicado.
However, on July 8, the students of the college told media persons that Mr. Kumar himself was not taking classes, while the students have been present.
Later, it was revealed that only ₹968 was deposited in his bank account (Mithanpura Branch of State Bank of India in Muzaffarpur) of which he had deposited the cheque to the college authority.
“Had the college accepted the cheque offered by asst. professor Lallan Kumar it would have bounced and Mr. Kumar had to face some legal issues, including jail,” said a college teacher on condition of anonymity.
“Mr. Kumar did all the drama to draw the attention of media to exert pressure on the authorities concerned for transfer to the PG department of the institution of his choice and for which he had requested six times to the college principal,” another teacher of the college seeking anonymity told The Hindu.
The college authority had returned the cheque offered by Mr. Kumar saying “there was no such provision to accept such a cheque”. Though, the college authority had asked him to deposit the Xerox copy of the cheque for the record.
The apology letter by the professor written on July 8, was addressed to the Registrar of the BRA Bihar University Professor Ram Krishna Thakur through principal of the Nitishwar College, Muzaffarpur, Manoj Kumar.
“The letter will go through the proper procedure. Once the college principal sends his replies, it would be placed before the competent authority,” said university registrar Prof. Thakur.
The registrar has also sought records of classes allotted to and engaged by Mr. Kumar since he had joined the college in 2019.
Later, the Nitishwar College teachers association called a meeting and condemned Mr. Kumar’s “wrong move for his transfer”.
“His (Mr. Kumar) main concern was not low attendance of students in classes but of his transfer but the ground he laid for his transfer was completely wrong and baseless,” Nitishwar college teachers association president Dr. Sarita Kumari and secretary Dr. Ravi Ranjan said in a statement.
“The university authorities will take action against Mr. Kumar after getting a response from the college principal on the issue,” Prof. Thakur said.
“His conduct has maligned reputation of the college and the university,” added a college teacher.
