University of Hyderabad never had Dalit on Council

Hyderabad: No teacher from the Dalit community has been appointed to the Executive Council of the UoH, the highest policymaking body, since it was set up  in 1974. There is no provision in the university rules to appoint a Dalit teacher as EC member directly. Senior faculty members among the deans are taken as EC members; since Dalit teachers lack seniority, they could not find a place in the EC.

Dalit teachers seek nomination to EC
There is a long-pending demand from Dalit teachers to accommodate them in executive committee directly, but for this the university rules need to be amended.

“The representation of Dalit teachers in University of Hyderabad is very meagre. There are only 40 Dalit teachers out of 400, which amounts to just 10 per cent. Of them, less than 10 are professors and the rest are associate and assistant professors,” said Prof. V. Krishna of UoH. In the EC sub-committee constituted by the university administration to take disciplinary action against the five research scholars, a Dalit teacher, the dean of student welfare, was accommodated. Dalit teachers alleged that it was a deliberate attempt by the administration to take shelter under the Dalit official’s presence to order suspension of Dalit students.

Appointment of EC chief sparks row
A major issue raised by some UoH students as also some politicians who visited the university, including YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was the appointment of Prof. Vipin Srivastava as chairman of the sub-committee of the Executive Council which decided to suspend the five scholars from the hostel.

Prof. Srivastava was in the eye of a storm in 2008, when a dalit research scholar from the physics department, Senthil Kumar from Tamil Nadu, had committed suicide for not being allotted a PhD guide. Prof. Srivastava was the Dean of physics at that time. A report later absolved the university authorities of any role in the suicide by Senthil Kumar, who came from a financially impoverished background.

Questions are being asked on how Prof. Srivastava, with such a record, was made chairman of a committee which had to oversee an issue involving dalit research scholars.