VC puts web site offline following call for his resignation
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology teachers who have been rallying for removal of vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellor of the university have
postponed their agitation following the High Court order that put an injunction on their movement.
The postponement was decided at an emergency working committee of the BUET Teachers’ Association late Wednesday night.
‘We have decided to postpone our movement in keeping with the High Court order that put an injunction on our movement,’ the teachers’ association general secretary,
Ashraful Islam, told New Age.
The High Court on Tuesday ordered an injunction on the current movement of BUET teachers, students and employees demanding removal of the vice-chancellor and the pro-
vice-chancellor.
Meanwhile BUET authorities put the university’s web site offline following a call on it for the resignation of the vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor.
The web site showed director of the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Professor Lutful Kabir, who maintains the web site, urging the vice-
chancellor SM Nazrul Islam and pro-vice-chancellor Habibur Rahman to step down for the interest of the institute.
Ashraful Islam told New Age that the vice-chancellor ordered the chief engineer of the engineering office of BUET to put the server down.
The web site of BUET could not be accessed after 4:00pm, he said.
Ashraful, however, said the urge of Lutful was his personal and had no link with the teachers’ association movement.
‘A piece of news was run on the web site without taking permission from authorities, so the web site was put down,’ SM Nazrul Islam told New Age.
Academic activities at the university are yet to resume though there was no agitation by teacher, students and employees of the university on Wednesday to press for
removal of vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellor.
BUET vice-chancellor SM Nazrul Islam told New Age that the classes would not resume before August 24 as the university was closed for the Ramadan vacation.
He said BUET was observing the Ramadan holidays following the academic calendar and classes would reopen not before August 24. ‘Since examinations and administrative
work were not suspended, these things would continue,’ he said.
The VC said he also did not receive the copy of the High Court order till 5:00pm Wednesday and he would take next step after receiving the copy of the order.
BUET authorities on July 10 closed the university for 44 days in the face of the movement of teachers to unseat vice-chancellor Nazrul Islam, and pro-vice-chancellor
Habibur Rahman.
The teachers, on July 10, issued an ultimatum to the vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor to quit their offices by July 14.
The academic calendar of BUET says that the Ramadan holidays will begin on August 11 and run through till August 24.
The teachers, students and employees, meanwhile, staged the sit-in on the campus for the 11th consecutive day on Tuesday to push for their demand.
They began the fresh round of protests in front of the council building on July 21 after a break of two days on July 18 and 19. The teachers’ association earlier
threatened to go for mass resignation.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, held two rounds of meeting on July 16 and 30 on the crisis which ended without any major decision being reached to end the
stalemate.
On July 11, all the five deans and the 17 department heads and directors of three institutes under the university resigned as the vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-
chancellor refused to quit.
The teachers earlier rallied against the administration between April 8 and May 5, pushing for removal of the two top officials.
The protestors also submitted a memorandum to the president.
-With New Age input
