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HRD Ministry is corrupt and communal: MGS

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE DEC. 10. Dr. M.G.S. Narayanan, who has been sacked from the post of Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), has termed his dismissal as a hostile action by the `corrupt' Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.

Dr. Narayanan said here today that he had no plans to take the matter to court. However, he accused the HRD Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and his officials of following obscurantist policies and squandering public funds to promote their communal agenda.

Dr. Narayanan is a retired Professor of History from the University of Calicut.

Responding to the Government's decision to withdraw his nomination as ICHR Chairman, Prof. Narayanan quoted a Supreme Court ruling to question its legality. On a similar action taken against the late Prof. M.L. Sondhi, who was Chairman of ICSSR, the Supreme Court had in 2003 held that the High Court judgment supporting the Government order was not prima facie acceptable and decreed that it was not binding in any future case.

``However, I am not interested in challenging the order as I consider a hostile act by the corrupt Ministry an honour. I take pride in the fact that I have been able to stand for the cause of historical research with dignity and autonomy,'' he said.

Pointing out that his appointment was for a term of three years, he said there was no provision to remove him from the post, and that too without assigning any reasons. He alleged that the ``illegal and arbitrary'' action was taken by the HRD Ministry to promote ``its communal agenda'' through the Council.

Trouble started brewing in the ICHR soon after Dr. Narayanan took charge. He alleged that his removal was the culmination of a series of ``illegal and irregular actions'' taken by the Ministry officials in the last two years, ``probably under pressure from some ruling party circles''.

Dr. Narayanan said, during is tenure, the ICHR had functioned according to rule and had a number of academic achievements to its credit. Two regional centres in Bangalore and Gwahauti were activated. The codification and publication of Research Funding rules and newly started newsletters brought transparency to the Council. ``But these were not liked by the HRD officials,'' he alleged.

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