Students’ protest turns violent in Punjab varsity
Things turned ugly at Panjab University on Tuesday as the protest against fee hike witnessed police using tear gas and students replying with stonepelting. At least 15 policemen and some students had to get medical help while some were admitted to hospitals and said to be in a stable state. More than 50 were taken into custody.
The fee hike for the 2017-18 session — purportedly necessitated by a financial crunch at PU — meant some courses saw an increase of up to 1,000%. The HRD ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) have been pressing PU to increase income from internal resources for grants. On Tuesday, students’ parties except the ABVP had called for a strike. The ABVP is protesting separately and their hunger strike entered its 10th day on Tuesday.
Around 10:30 am, hundreds of students gathered outside the V-C’s office and started sloganeering against V-C Arun Kumar Grover, the MHRD and UGC, and the Modi government. As students tried to push their way to enter the office, the police pushed them back. When the water cannon was used, students took to stone-pelting.
High courts must not allow medical and dental colleges to admit students until their legal dispute with the Centre over their affiliation is resolved, the Supreme Court held on Tuesday, in a verdict that would bring relief to several aspirants who are left in the lurch if the institution loses a case.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said permitting colleges to admit students even before their affiliation is approved can jeopardize a student’s future. “It is not a construction which is built at the risk of a plaintiff or the defendant which can be demolished or redeemed by grant of compensation. It is a situation where the order has the potentiality to play with the career and life of young,” the bench held, striking down the Bombay high court order that allowed a dental college in Aurangabad to take students for its post-graduation course.
The institution had approached the HC after it was denied permission to start postgraduate courses in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics. The admission process undertaken was ordered to be at the risk of the college.
Assailing the HC order, Dental Council of India (DCI) counsel Gaurav Sharma argued the directive was impermissible because it brought in “anarchy and chaos in the process of admission to medical courses.”
“By saying that the institution may give admission at its own risk invites further chaotic and unfortunate situations,” he impressed upon the bench. The college could not have started a course in the absence of an approval, Sharma submitted.
According to him the HC should have given a final opinion on whether the college had actually removed the deficiencies pointed by an inspection committee or the decision making process in not recommending the approval was perverse. Although the bench set aside the HC order, it gave some respite to three students who were admitted pursuant to the direction. SC ordered the college to adjust the three from the 2017-18 academic session. It also directed the college to deposit ₹30 lakh before the top court’s registry, saying it would decide later what to do with the money.
By saying that the institution may give admission at its own risk invites further chaotic and unfortunate situations