A major controversy has erupted at Tezpur University after allegations of serious procedural lapses emerged regarding the constitution of the Selection Committee for the post of Deputy Registrar, for which interviews were held in September 2024.
The issue came to light after candidate Dr Upakul Sarmah moved the Gauhati High Court, filing Writ Petition WP(C) 6620/2024. He argued that the entire recruitment exercise violated the University’s own Ordinance No. 33 and was therefore fundamentally illegal.
As per the petition, Tezpur University’s advertisement explicitly stated that the appointment process would be conducted in accordance with Ordinance 33. Under this ordinance, a panel of experts must first be approved by the Board of Management (BoM), the University’s highest decision-making authority. Only after this approval can the Vice-Chancellor nominate two experts from that panel to form the Selection Committee.
However, the petition claims that the BoM never vetted or approved any such panel. Instead, the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shambhu Nath Singh, allegedly bypassed the mandatory procedure and handpicked two experts himself. This, the petition contends, rendered the Selection Committee invalid from the outset and tainted the legitimacy of the entire recruitment process.
The matter became even more contentious after details surfaced about the involvement of the then Finance Officer, Dr Braja Bandhu Mishra. He was reportedly listed as a “special invitee” under the Woman/ST/SC/OBC/Minority category, despite being an upper-caste Hindu and therefore not qualified under any of these reserved groups. Ordinance 33 does not allow the Finance Officer to be inducted into the board under such a category. Even so, Dr Mishra took part in the proceedings and acted as a full-fledged committee member—something the petition describes as a serious procedural violation now being examined by the Court.
The petition has called into question the very legality of the Selection Committee, and the case is currently being heard by the Gauhati High Court. It also alleges that Dr Mishra and Professor Singh worked together to influence the selection process in favour of the candidate who was eventually chosen.
The entire situation became more suspicious when Professor Singh suddenly left the Tezpur University campus on September 22, followed shortly by Dr Mishra’s resignation. It has since come to light that Dr Mishra has joined Sikkim University. The candidate selected for the Deputy Registrar post has also stepped down, citing personal reasons.
With several key officials exiting and the recruitment process under the scanner of the High Court, Tezpur University is facing a growing crisis of credibility as the legal proceedings continue.