Lalan Kumar, an assistant professor at Nitishwar College in Bihar's Muzzaffarpur, returned his salary amounting to nearly Rs 24 lakh that he had earned since joining the job in September 2019. He did so as his "conscience did not allow" him to draw his pay without doing what he was hired to do—teach, as no student turned up for a single class.
"My conscience does not allow me to take a salary without teaching... even during online classes, there were only a handful of students present for Hindi classes. If I take a salary without teaching for five years, it would be academic death for me. I heard my inner voice and decided to return my salary for two years and nine months to the university,” said Lalan while speaking to the media.
The 33-year-old professor, on Tuesday, signed a Rs 23,82,228 cheque to the registrar of BR Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU)—a state university of which the college is a constituent.
Nitishwar College has been affiliated to BRABU since 1976 and offers undergraduate courses in Arts and Science.
While Lalan's action is being praised by many including BRABU's registrar, the college principal, Manoj Kumar, has raised doubts over his motive and dismissed it as a mere 'tactic' to get transferred to the postgraduate department (PG).
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Lalan, who has a PhD and MPhil from Delhi University, has applied to the PG department to be "more involved" in academics.
As the three parties involved spar over the issue, it has brought to the core the larger issue of students' absenteeism at colleges in Bihar.