A Dhaka University teacher on Sunday took his class in the varsity corridor protesting the authority’s decision of sending him in forced leave. A section of the students also demanded cancellation of the teacher’s forced leave and reinstatement to class. Rushad Faridi, a teacher of the Department of the Economics, who was sent into forced leave in 2017, took his class in the corridor of Social Science building at around 12 noon yesterday. Around one hundred students from different departments participated in his class.
Rushad Faridi said, “Students urged me to take class but the authority did not allow me to. So, I took class in the corridor. If students want, I will continue my class. I will continue my protest by staging sit-in with placard in front of my department. I won’t stop until the authority reinstate me to the class,” he said.
Students also expressed delight join the class in the corridor. A student of anthropologies department, Sadman Hossain, said, “Rushad Faridi is a good teacher. I enjoyed his class. The authority should take him back in classroom immediately. Notably, Faridi was sent into forced leave on 13 July 2017 following a syndicate meeting chaired by the former vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique. But he was not issued any show cause notice by the DU authority before taking the decision of sending him into forced leave, it is alleged.
Rushad Faridi claimed that he was sent into forced leave over ‘baseless and false’ allegation. He said that he was always outspoken about irregularities inside the department and have become the victim of personal grudges.
The DU teacher also served legal notice to five persons including the then VC Arefin Siddique demanding reconsideration of the decision but he never got any response, he alleged. On 24 July 2017 the High Court questioned the legality of the DU syndicate’s decision of sending Rushad Faridi into forced leave. The court had also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned of DU to explain in two weeks as to why the syndicate’s decision of sending Rushad Faridi into forced leave should not be declared illegal.
After two years, on 25 August this year, the High Court declared the syndicate’s decision illegal and ordered the DU authorities to allow Rushad Faridi to join his workplace. The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam came up with the verdict following a writ petition filed by Rushd Faridi challenging the legality of DU syndicate’s decision on sending him into forced leave.
Rushad Faridi said he is yet to receive the certified copy of the verdict, however he has submitted his lawyer’s signed copy both to the department and the university authority. He also alleged that department’s chairman professor Shafique uz Zaman refused to receive his letter and also misbehaved with him and so he could not join his workplace.
Dhaka University VC Professor Akhtaruzzaman said he was concerned about it and they will have to take decision following legal procedure.
