Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

High Court stays QMC demolition

By Feroze Ahmed

IT'S CELEBRATION TIME: Protesting students hail court order on the QMC campus in Chennai on Sunday. — Photo: R.Ragu

CHENNAI APRIL 6. Amid continuing student protests, the Madras High Court today restrained the Tamil Nadu Government from going ahead with its plans of demolishing the Queen Mary's College here and evicting hostelers till Wednesday.

In an extraordinary gesture, Justice K.Govindarajan admitted a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers' Association and the Students Federation of India at his residence this evening, and granted an interim injunction against the demolition of any building on the campus and eviction of hostel students till April 9. The case has been posted before the first bench of the High Court to Tuesday.

The court also issued notices to the Chief Secretary, the Madras University, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the Education Department, the Director of the Archeological Survey of India and three other respondents.

The petitioners sought the injunction on grounds that the Government had no right to pass demolition orders, as the property belonged to the university. "The order is arbitrary as it is a heritage site, besides having immense environmental significance," it said. The petition added that the move was also a violation of Article 15 (4) of the Constitution, which talks about priority and privilege for women's education.

The staff and students , who staged an "in-college vigil" for the second night, burst into ecstatic celebrations. However, the students decided to continue their protest and vigil until Wednesday to ensure that the demolition squad did not land up in the college.

Earlier, a visibly harassed college principal, D.Padmini, went on leave on medical grounds. She was replaced temporarily by P.T.Rajalakhmi, Joint Director (Planning and Development) of the Higher Education Department.

The Higher Education Department authoritiesissued orders to close the hostel and canteen, attempting to block food supplies to the agitating students and staff and get about 300 hostelers to leave. Just after taking charge, Ms.Rajalakshmi and the deputy warden asked students of the main hostel to vacate at about 6.30 p.m. But they gheraoed her and stayed put.

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