Rebooting Of The Eastern University Operating System: Corrupt Files
By K E Karunakaran –July 8, 2015
Dr. K E Karunakaran
It is a glorious moment that Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne was granted relief from 1982 by the President recently. Can he be given all what he has lost over these years? NEVER. Then, how do we assure that this does not happen to another member of the society? There had been many such cases where applications for Professorship had been stalled for nearly 10 years, Promotions and increments stalled for many years and shelved stating that it has passed the time barrier. Who questions the delay, why it was not dealt within the time frame? What relief would the candidates have and what measures do we take so that this is not repeated? Who pays for the lost time and values to that individual?
Eastern University, Sri Lanka has had more than its share of ‘malpractices’, ‘misuse of power’ and ‘dictatorship’ over the past three years, which ended in the appointment of Professor Uma Coomaraswamy as the Competent Authority in April 2015. It is rarely a Teachers Association pays tribute to a Competent Authority(CA) but it also becomes the duty of the association to do that as we criticize when it is not done by the said authority.
Over the past three months she had achieved what this institution failed to achieve/ could not achieve over the past three years in terms of staff relations and rights.
- Many Ph D s which had been withheld for three years held their viva voce examinations
- Many staff whose promotions were withheld for three years were attended
- Leave of staff which were with held for flimsy reasons have been resolved
- Staff promotions which had been pending UGC verification of a circular for two years, granted
- Vacation leave of staff have been restored
- Appointment of Heads have been rationalized
- Staff whose appointments were with held for unknown reasons were granted
- Appeal of Staff who had to resign office for failures in administration was considered for reinstatement
- There were clear guidelines and authority established in the University for different categories of staff and they were implanted as per the E-Code and University Act
Devolution power has been emphasized - Roles of various bodies have been clearly defined and authority given as per the regulations
- Senate’s role has been critically established including that of the Faculty Board
- The role of the Vice Chancellor and his limitations have been established and clearly informed that NO ONE needs to violate any rules to oblige persons in office.
Thus we the TAEU fully endorse the functioning of Prof Uma Coomaraswany, CA and express our support in her endeavor. We visualize her as a champion on the cause of those affected unjustly by the former Vice Chancellor.
