A meeting of the central admission test committee of Jahangirnagar University ended prematurely yesterday when deans and chairmen from different faculties and departments left the meeting halfway through.
Sources said university authorities called the meeting yesterday to finalise the work plan for the upcoming admission test for the 2013-14 academic year that is scheduled from November 2-9.
The meeting began at the administrative building around 11am and was chaired by Pro Vice-Chancellor (education) Prof Dr MA Matin.
According to the university’s regulations, the vice-chancellor (VC) must chair this meeting, and, in their absence, a person officially nominated by the VC can chair it.
Sources said some teachers at the meeting alleged that Prof MA Matin was not officially appointed since he had no written document signed by the VC and therefore the meeting was illegal.
Sources said four deans- Prof Dr Syed Kamrul Ahsan, Prof Dr Amir Hossain, Prof Abul Hossain and Prof Sheikh Md Monzurul Haque- and chairmen from different departments left the meeting around 1pm in protest over the issue.
The deans said they had left the meeting as authorities failed to show any document ensuring the legality of Prof MA Matin acting as the chair of the central admission committee.
They also placed a three-point demand to the university authorities.
They demanded that Prof MA Matin be put in charge of the committee officially, that deans be appointed to the biological sciences and business faculties and that the writ petition against social science faculty Dean Prof Dr Amir Hossain be withdrawn.
Arts and Humanities faculty dean Prof Dr Syed Kamrul Ahsan told the Dhaka Tribune: “We want the admission tests to be held in time but it must go through a legal process, and we cannot work while two faculties have no deans and one dean has a writ against him.”
Deputy Registrar (education) Mohammad Ali told the Dhaka Tribune: “The meeting is yet to reach any decision but the procedure of the committee will continue and I hope that we will be able to make decisions very soon.”
Prof MA Matin was unavailable for comments.
The teachers of the university, under the banner of the General Teachers’ Forum, declared that VC Prof Anwar Hossain was unwanted on the campus in June and refused to sit in any formal meetings of the university while Prof Anwar was holding the chair.
The four deans have been absent in the last two meetings of the admission test committee and are demanding that Prof MA Matin officially be made the chair of the committee.
