Nirmal to be withdrawn from Kozhikode College

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amidst a virulent Opposition stir generated over the Kozhikode firing and ‘irregular’ admission of Nirmal Madhav to the Kozhikode Government Engineering College, it is understood that the government has decided to shift the student from the institution.He will be admitted to a self-financing engineering college, where there is an available vacant seat. The decision was taken on Tuesday evening after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy took stock of the  situation by sourcing an expert committee report on the admission issue.Kozhikode District Collector P B Salim was also summoned to the capital on Tuesday for discussions.But even if the issue related to Nirmal Madhav is going to be settled, nothing concrete had been worked out on the demand for action against the controversial Kozhikode Assistant Commissioner of Police who had fired at agitating SFI activists. Though the Opposition and the SFI are firm on their demand for removing the student who secured a very low rank in the entrance examinations from attending a government engineering college where only high-ranking students are admitted, they may not be averse to giving Nirmal admission to any self-financing college. However, this only provides solution to one problem.While the Opposition remains hell-bent in carrying forward a high-pitched campaign on the issue until action is initiated against the cop involved in the firing, Chandy is trying to mobilise public opinion against the Left-sponsored violence even when he stands at a clear loss while defending the police officer and declaring that a report from his higher-ups is awaited.That a dispute has cropped up between two thasildars with both of them insisting that it may be the other who had issued the shoot order, is likely to even foment allegations of a conspiracy angle.The expert committee which went into the discrepancies with regard to the admission of the student had stated in categorical terms that there was indeed a bunch of irregularities and hence there was no ground for facilitating Nirmal Madhav’s  continuing his studies in Kozhikode Engineering College.Kozhikode Collector P B Salim also took a similar stand. This in addition to the  simmering law and order problems resulted in Tuesday’s decision.