The committee headed by retired IAS officer and chairman of Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee S. Subramaniyam has identified several lapses in the way the campus hostels were being administered and also came up with several recommendations that would act as a strong deterrent in preventing a repeat of incidents of ragging and harassment.
The committee appointed by the State government to probe the suicide of Mondi Rishiteswari, first year student of B.Arch, headed by Mr. S. Balasubramaniyam has Vice Chancellor of Vikrama Simhapuri University V. Veeraiah, Professor of Sri Venkateswara University Balakrishnana Naidu and Registrar of Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswavidyalayam P. Vijaya Lakshmi as members.
Expressing its displeasure over the way in which the hostels were being administered, the committee, which rounded off its three-day inquiry, felt that a resident warden should be immediately appointed in all hostels.
The committee has found that incidents of ragging have been taking place in hostels from 11 pm and go on till 2 am. The hostel wardens are leaving the campus by evening and it becomes a free for all after they leave.
The committee also found fault in the manner in which students of College of Architecture and Planning have been staying on the college campus even after 8 pm. The members also felt that the university had not taken proper measures to curb ragging. “The university has not taken proper steps to create awareness on ragging and we did not find any posters or material on anti-ragging and the severe penal action which would be taken against the students found guilty,’’ said the committee.
“We have recorded the statements of over 70 students, representatives of student unions, parents, senior administrative officials of university, members of teaching as well as non teaching communities. We have also visited the hostel and the room in which the body of Rishiteswari was found. We will be working on the material collected over the last three days and submit a report to the State government by Monday,’’ said Mr. Subramaniyam.
The committee would also submit recommendations on the steps to be taken in preventing incidents of ragging and harassment on college campuses for all State run universities in the state.
“We will be giving a road map to the universities on the way the colleges, hostels should be administered. We would also come up with an action plan not only to create awareness on ragging but also prevent such kinds of incidents,’’ said Mr. Balasubramaniyam.
