Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 3 Jun: In a shocking development, the North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) Registrar In-charge has unraveled the circumstances that allegedly led to the forced resignation of NERIST Director Professor Narendranath S on May 29, 2026, plunging the premier institute into a major administrative crisis.
In a letter to Home Minister Mama Natung, the Registrar In-charge informed that the Director resigned following sustained pressure from external student organisations and the NERIST Faculty Association (NFA) over the transfer and posting of assistant registrars.
The Registrar In-charge detailed the circumstances leading to the Director’s resignation and claimed that representatives of external student bodies and the NFA had repeatedly pressed for the transfer of assistant registrars despite written directions from the Ministry of Education.
According to the letter, a joint team comprising members of external student organisations and the NFA met the Director on May 12 and strongly insisted on a particular demand relating to the transfer and posting of assistant registrars.
“The discussion continued from around 10:30 am till 5:00 pm. During the course of the meeting, the representatives of the NFA and external student bodies threatened to lock the institute and prevent the examinations, scheduled to commence the following day, from being conducted,” the Registrar In-charge stated.
“The Director tried his level best to convince them that the transfer of assistant registrars could not be carried out due to written directions received from the Ministry of Education, Government of India. However, they were not willing to listen and repeatedly insisted that if the assistant registrars were not transferred, the Director should immediately resign from the post. As the Director could not overrule the directions of the Ministry, a resignation letter was prepared,” he added.
He further informed that at that stage, Tadar Demo, president of SUN, along with some NERIST students, Nabam Gandhi, vice president of AAPSU, and one Ph.D. scholar, Banta Natung, came to the Director’s chamber and requested him not to resign.
He also stated that the external student organisations and the NFA prepared a minutes of meeting, and the Director, along with some officers present, objected to certain contents of the minutes. However, the representatives were not in a position to consider the objections raised.
“Since the examinations were scheduled to commence the following day and the organisations had threatened to lock the institute and obstruct the conduct of examinations, the Director signed the minutes under compulsion and solely in the interest of safeguarding the academic future of the students and maintaining the normal functioning of the institute,” he added.
The Registrar In-charge further stated that on May 27, 2026, the Ministry of Education directed the institute to place two officials under suspension immediately. Following instructions from the chairman, Board of Management (BoM), suspension orders were issued on May 29, 2026.
The same evening, a team from an external student organisation visited the Director’s office and demanded the immediate revocation of the suspension orders. The group allegedly behaved aggressively, raising serious concerns about the situation.
In view of the escalating tension and “in the larger interest of the institute,” the Director submitted his resignation to the chairman, Board of Management, and the joint secretary, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
The developments have sparked concern over administrative autonomy and the growing influence of external groups in the institute’s internal affairs.
