College students boycott classes demanding 25 p.c. quota

Plea for probe into irregularities in Central University

July 11, 2014 12:38 pm | Updated 12:38 pm IST - PUDUCHERRY

Members of the DYFI and SFI students staging a protest in front of the Pondicherry University first gate on Thursday. Photo: T. Singaravelou

Members of the DYFI and SFI students staging a protest in front of the Pondicherry University first gate on Thursday. Photo: T. Singaravelou

: Several hundred students in government colleges across the city on Thursday boycotted classes and conducted a dharna in front of the Pondicherry Central University demanding the implementation of 25 per cent reservation of seats to the local students of Puducherry.

The students also urged the Union Minister for Human Resources Development to order a probe into alleged irregularities committed by the university.

On Thursday morning, gate protests were held in front of eight colleges. The student leaders of the Student Federation of India(SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) addressed the meetings.

Later, over 1,000 students took out a rally from Pondicherry Engineering College to the Pondicherry Central University administrative campus.

The march was stopped by police posted at the entrance to the university premises. Several students tried to push forward even as police used force to keep them at bay. In the ensuing melee, some students managed to gate-crash into the premises.

Around 20 protestors were arrested and released later in the evening.

The students from Bharathidasan Government College for women, Tagore Arts College, Pondicherry University Community College, Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic, Government Women’s Polytechnic College, Indira Arts and Science College, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Arts and Science College, Rajiv Gandhi Arts College also participated.

According to the students, when the Pondicherry Central University was established in 1985, the then authorities assured of employment opportunities to the family members of the agriculturalists who donated land for the establishment of university.

They also assured that 25 per cent reservation would be provided for students from Puducherry in all courses offered in the university.

A.Anand, State Secretary of SFI, said, “Despite the persistent demand from all quarters to implement the assurance, the university has paid scant regard. This has badly affected the educational and employment opportunities to the students of the Union Territory.”

P. Saravanan, State Secretary of DYFI said, “Twenty five per cent reservation was followed only in few departments. If such reservation is implemented in all departments, more students will get benefited.”

The student organisations also forwarded a memorandum to the Union Human Resources Minister urging immediate intervention on the issue of alleged irregularities committed in the university.

They also said an inquiry committee should be constituted to probe the various allegations of administrative, academic and financial irregularities.

“The Union Ministry’s direct intervention is necessary to save the university and its prestige. If the present situation is allowed to continue, the university will lose its stature as a premier destination for study, teaching and research”, said the memorandum.

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