Several students and policemen sustained injuries in a clash near the Markaz Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET) at Karanthur on Friday, where the Markaz Students Samara Samiti has been on an indefinite agitation seeking legal action against the MIET management for ‘cheating students by offering unrecognised vocational courses.’
Tension prevailed in the area as the police tried to disperse the Samiti workers who blocked the National Highway at Karanthur on Friday evening. The police resorted to caning and fired tear gas as a few men in the crowd threw stones at them. It was the second time that the police and the samiti members had locked horns on the street.
Police sources said tension was purposefully created by an unidentified gang in the area who had thrown stones at the Samiti members to fuel conflict. It took around two hours to reinstate peace and resume traffic on the route. Several student activists and leaders of the Samiti were taken into custody. Members of students’ unions arrived at the spot and expressed solidarity with the Samiti, shouting slogans against the police and the MIET management.
It was on May 9 that the students had launched an indefinite strike, alleging that they had lost the opportunity for higher studies as a result of attending unrecognised courses. The police had registered a case against the MIET management on the charge of cheating.
However, Markaz authorities clarified that the courses were only scrapped temporarily in 2013 on the directions of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. They argued that the courses were only to train those who could not secure admissions to engineering colleges, and the case would be legally fought in court.
A technical committee constituted to study students’ complaints submitted its report to District Collector U.V. Jose on Friday. The report sought further action on the issue. The three-member committee led by Technical Education Department Regional Director N. Santhakumar submitted the report after recording the statements of students who had attended the unrecognised diploma programmes in architecture, civil engineering, and automobile engineering.
