Strongly refuting the statement of the chief electoral officer (CEO) Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha, that NUTA was not exempt from poll duty, the Nagaland University Teachers Association (NUTA) Sunday accused him of “wilfully” misinterpreting Section 159 of the Representation of People (RP) Act to harass university teachers and violate their freedom to political rights.
In a press release, CEC NUTA president, Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu, and secretary general, Prof. D Kuolie, said the CEO seemed unaware despite receiving two representations from NUTA. They said that Section 159 of the RP Act specifies “Staff” of universities, but CEO seemed “ignorant about the fact” that the word “staff” in central universities referred to administrative staff. NUTA reiterated that as per the UGC Act and Regulations, university teachers were not “staff”.
The association said it strongly condemned such “misinterpretation” of the Act. It also questioned the intention of CEO Nagaland and DC Kohima, DC Zunheboto and DC Dimapur on violating the political rights of Nagaland University teachers. Further, NUTA demanded “unconditional withdrawal of the illegal show cause notices” from the DC Kohima. It also reiterated that CEO Nagaland would bear full responsibility for any further action from the association for “these gross injustices and violation of the rights” of central university teachers in Nagaland.