Hyderabad: Facing stiff opposition from students amidst demands of the Vice Chancellor's resignation, the Hyderabad University Administration has issued a letter to the students appealing them to resume classes and resolve the issue amicably.
Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has come under fire over the suicide of Dalit PhD scholar V Rohith and a case has been registered against them.
Defending the action taken by the University over the suspension of the five Dalit students in 2015, the letter said that the Executive Council had taken a lenient approach towards awarding punishment to the students. The Executive Council followed due procedure in the decision to suspend students and the letter from Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and HRD Ministry did not impact its decision.
The letter read that a joint action committee of students was pressurising the University to revoke suspension.
The letter said, "As the Chairman of the EC, the VC had taken the DSW into confidence, and reduced the scale of punishment to benefit the students. The full EC agreed to the VC's proposal to be lenient but as a regular practice followed in the University for several years, it was indicated that these students will be permitted in the respective Schools/Departments/Centres, Library and Academic meetings but no in the hostel, administration and other public places on the campus as part of groups."
The letter added, "A group of students met the VC and demanded revocation of hostel suspension as they felt it was a 'social boycott'. They were linking this punishment to the letter from the Hon'ble Minister Sri Bandaru Dattatreya forwarded by the MHRD. It was adequately explained to the students that the letter received from MHRD or the Minister's letter had no influence on the EC Decision."
As students from Hyderabad to Delhi are continuing to protest against the social boycott that Rohith faced, politicians are making a beeline at the Hyderabad University. From Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to TMC's Derek O'Brien to AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi visited University campus on Tuesday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit the university on Thursday.
The opposition has stepped up its demand for the resignation of the Vice Chancellor, Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya and a fair probe into the incident.
Even though the HRD Minister has denied putting pressure on the University but CNN-IBN has accessed two letters which showed that HRD Ministry wrote to the University asking about action taken against Rohith & four other Dalit students.
The Ministry's fact finding team will also submit a report in the evening.
Rohith, a Dalit PhD scholar, was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room in the campus on Sunday triggering protests from fellow students since Monday morning.
Comments
0 comment