JAGATSINGHPUR: Raghunathpur police in Jagatsinghpur district on Friday arrested the Principal of Swami Arupananda Degree College at Kurtanga on charges of humiliating two lecturers and non-teaching staff members after they reportedly refused to comply with what they termed as “illegal instructions”.
The accused principal is Dayanidhi Routray. Police said Dayanidhi was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by lecturers Bhagaban Das and Diptimayee Jena along with non-teaching staff members Ranjita Mohanty and Daitari Jena on last Saturday.
According to the complaint, the principal convened a staff meeting and allegedly pressurised faculty members to sign an old resolution relating to the appointment of guest lecturers and non-teaching staff made during the previous academic year. The complainants alleged that those appointments had been made through an irregular selection process by engaging subject experts from another college, following which the selected candidates were appointed and paid salaries.
They claimed that the principal was attempting to obtain retrospective approval for those appointments by compelling staff members to sign the earlier resolution. When they refused, Dayanidhi allegedly hurled abuses at Diptimayee, Ranjita and Daitari.
Based on the complaint, Raghunathpur police registered a case under sections 296 and 126(2) of the BNS against the principal. IIC Premjit Das said following investigation, the principal was arrested produced in court.
Meanwhile, college president and sub-collector Prasant Kumar Tarai placed principal Dayanidhi under suspension on the day for alleged negligence of duty.
Last year, former principal of the college Ramesh Chandra Sahoo and Mathematics lecturer Saswat Mohanty were arrested and placed under suspension for allegedly suppressing a case relating to sexual harassment of a minor girl student.