Court orders BBAU to grant admission to three dalit students accused of indiscipline

LUCKNOW: Three Dalit students, who were denied admission by the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) despite passing the entrance test, got relief from the court on Tuesday. The students, who did their previous studies from BBAU itself, were accused of indiscipline on the varsity campus.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court, in its order, asked BBAU to allow the candidates to appear in the ongoing counselling process without waiting for a certified copy of this order.

The court also directed the three students- Basant Kumar Kanaujiya, Jaivir Singh and Ashwini Kumar, to file an affidavit before the court giving an undertaking that henceforth while pursuing courses in the university, they shall not indulge in any act of indiscipline or violence that may be prohibited under the rules and regulations of the university nor shall they conduct themselves in any manner that does not behove a student. Besides, the court said the university may file counter affidavit in the matter within a period of three weeks. On charges of indiscipline, BBAU had denied admission to a scheduled caste candidate Basant Kanaujiya.

Kanaujiya topped the M.Phil entrance test without benefit of reservation, which means, he secured the highest marks after competing in open category. He scored 94 out of 100 marks. He did his masters in History (2012-14) and B.Ed (2015-17) from BBAU itself.

Other two candidates, Jaivir Singh and Ashwini Kumar, who wrote B.Ed entrance test, also figured in the counselling list. But, on September 1, the newly constituted proctorial board of university decided that students against whom the varsity has taken any disciplinary action or lodged an FIR will not be admitted to any course of the varsity for further studies.

However, the court was of the view that the petitioners should not be denied an opportunity of admission, if they succeeded in entrance exam and are eligible, and are neither been convicted of any offence nor any conclusive disciplinary action has been taken against them by the varsity as of now. Kanaujiya said, “It is true that I was against university’s arbitrary attitude and questioned its decision on several platforms including Facebook. Due to this they have singled me out and are denying me admission to M.Phil. Now, I have no idea what to do,” he said.

BBAU proctor Prof Ram Chandra said, “We will follow the court orders.”

It is true that I was against university’s arbitrary attitude and questioned its decision on several platforms including Facebook. Due to this they have singled me out and are denying me admission to M.Phil. BASANT KUMAR KANAUJIYA, student