Students say only CJI can constitute judicial probe
LUCKNOW: Students of Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University refused to call off their indefinite protest even after the vice-chancellor constituted a two-member judicial probe to look into their allegations.
Citing Section 7 of the University Act, students said that a judicial committee could only be constituted by the Chief Justice of India (who is also the visitor of the university).
“We want the V-C to either write to the CJI, requesting him to constitute a committee or we will wait for the chairperson of the general council ie the chief minister to write to the CJI for constituting a judicial committee,” said one of the protesters.
The agitation was launched against the alleged harassment and corruption at the university, three days ago.
Meanwhile, after the students objected, the varsity replaced Justice Bhagwan Deen (retired judge, Allahabad high court) with Justice Alok Kumar Singh (retired judge, Allahabad high court) as the chairman of the inquiry committee.
Also, keeping with the students’ demand, the procotorial board of the university offered its resignation to vice chancellor Gurdip Singh. However, sources said the resignation is still to be accepted.
When contacted, Singh said, “The vice chancellor has every right to order a judicial probe. In fact, I wrote to CM Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday, apprising him about constituting a judicial probe.”
Singh said the students had objected to Justice Bhagwan Deen’s proximity to the university and had wanted him replaced. “Now, Justice Alok Kumar Singh will head the judicial probe that also includes Bapu Ram (retired IAS officer), member-secretary of the committee,” he said.
Earlier, the students had demanded the resignation of the joint registrar and the deputy registrar in light of the sexual harassment allegations against them. They said that in the event of a long-drawn inquiry into the harassment charges, the accused officers should be suspended till a decision was reached in the matter. The students have been boycotting their classes since Monday, demanding the resignation of the accused university officials who, they say, have been “blackmailing” them for sometime now.
Alleging use of underhand methods by the varsity to quell their protest, a student said, “The administration’s tactics to resolve issues involve cutting off electricity late in the night, and for hours at a stretch.”
On Monday, the university had constituted a sexual harassment committee to address the problems related to the two accused officials. However, the move failed to pacify the students who alleged that the personal assistant of the accused was a part of the committee and his clerk was also present to record the proceedings.