Agartala, May 24 (PTI): Tripura Central University suspended an assistant professor and formed a committee today to probe the alleged incident of insult of the state Higher Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath by him during the institute's convocation ceremony on Wednesday.
The varsity registrar, Sanit Debroy said the assistant professor of the Hindi department Jai Kaushal was suspended last night after the convocation.
Kaushal was the anchor at the ceremony and had reportedly invited the higher education minister to deliver his speech after the address by the chief guest Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.
Nath had attended the convocation as the minister-in-waiting in the absence of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
As per the university protocol no speech is allowed in convocation ceremonies after the address by the chief guest, Debroy told PTI.
The gaffe was realised shortly after Nath had began his speech and a chit was sent to him by an undislosed person asking him to stop.
The minister stopped his speech and left the dias after it.
Nath had said that he took offence over the incident and alleged that he was deliberately insulted in the convocation programme.
"I did not want to sit on the dais as I knew there are many protocols in university convocations. I saw that my name was not there as a speaker but had agreed to speak on the request of the university authorities, Nath told PTI.
The minister said since he held a position in the state government, he felt he should pardon the person.
Describing the incident as an "unwanted" one, he said such a breach of protocol should not recur in the future.
