A day after Anil Sutar, the officiating registrar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, appointed himself head of administration of the university, he asked the vice-chancellor to reverse the order, The Hindu reported.

Sutar sent an informal communication to Vice-Chancellor Manoj Kumar Tiwari on Wednesday asking for the earlier order to be cancelled and to issue a new directive appointing Narendra Mishra as the institute’s officiating registrar, the newspaper reported.

“I also pray that I should not be appointed as the Head of Administration,” Sutar was quoted as having requested in his letter. “I will just focus on research and academics and will discharge my duties as professor and Dean, School of Research Methodology and Doctoral Students’ Office.”

In an order issued on Tuesday, Sutar had declared himself the university’s head of administration and said that Mishra would take over the office of the officiating registrar.

Sutar added that Mishra would directly report to him, Pro Vice Chancellor Shankar Das and Tiwari.

Following this, an unidentified faculty member told The Hindu that this was a case of Sutar “making himself more powerful”.

On Wednesday, Sutar forwarded his internal communication with the vice-chancellor to faculty members saying he wanted to “avoid any confusion and misunderstanding”, according to The Hindu.

Sutar’s order on Tuesday had come a day after he issued another directive banning the student organisation Progressive Students’ Forum from campus. The notice claimed that the forum was “defaming” the institute and “creating divisions” among students and faculty.

The forum is affiliated with the Students Federation of India, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Responding to the ban order, a member of the Progressive Students’ Forum had told Scroll that the decision was “politically motivated” and that the institute was “completely provoked” by the campaigns taken up by the organisation.

The order came nearly two months after the institute sent notices to 55 teaching faculty members and 60 non-teaching staffers, stating that their contracts would not be renewed “in the event of non-receipt of approval/ grant from Tata Education Trust”.

Following a backlash, the institute withdrew the termination notices saying that there had been a “positive development” about the funds from the trust.

However, the institute only extended the terms of the faculty members and non-teaching staffers for another six months rather than reinstating them.

In March, the students’ union at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences had expressed concerns about freedom of expression after the restrictions were placed on student activities. It also criticised the “unprofessional, insensitive communication” issued by the administration in the matter.

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