Students of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) ended the boycott of classes and exams on Monday after an alumnus met the Chief Justice of India (CJI), who is the Chancellor of the university.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi reportedly assured them that only a formal decision by the Chancellor regarding the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor was pending and it would be done shortly. Earlier in the day, the tussle between the students and the administration of the NLSIU intensified with students deciding to boycott their end semester examination scheduled to begin on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference, Hamza Tariq, president, Student Bar Association, said students would attend classes and appear for the examinations scheduled on Tuesday. Many alumni of the university, Supreme Court advocates and politicians also expressed solidarity with the students.
The Student Bar Association (SBA) has been questioning the administration about the delay in completing formalities in the process of appointment of the next Vice-Chancellor of the university for weeks now. The tenure of former V-C R. Venkata Rao ended on July 31.
A committee constituted by the NLSIU Executive Council had shortlisted the name of Sudhir Krishnaswamy for the post, but the CJI is yet to issue a formal order in this regard.
On Monday, students sat outside the examination hall and stated that they would not write the exam until a V-C was appointed. The entire campus was filled with posters. Black bands were tied across the university urging the administration to address the students’ demand. The university barred the media from entering the campus and police personnel were allowed in to take stock of the situation.
The students decided to boycott classes and exams after a four-member committee formed to look into questions from the students had reportedly ‘confirmed fears’ of the composition of the Executive Council being changed a week before its 89th meeting. The students have also alleged that the Registrar should step down as the ex-officio Secretary to the Executive Council which carries out the procedural formalities related to the appointment of the V-C.
M.K. Ramesh, in-charge V-C, NLSIU, in an email to the students on Monday stated that the exams will be held as per schedule as discussed in a meeting with students and faculty last week. He also stated through email, “Anybody indulging in any activity, causing any kind of disruption to this, will be firmly dealt with, in accordance to law.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Prof. Ramesh said only a few students had taken the exam on Monday. He said a decision would be taken soon about students who missed the examination. But the students said none of the members of the administration had tried to engage in a dialogue with them.
Several lawyers from the batch of 2010 rendered their unconditional support to the students and urged the administration to postpone the end semester examination. They asked the management not to take any ‘retaliatory’ measures against the students.
However, Ved Prakash Sharma, Co-Chairman, Bar Council of India, in a letter written to the CJI on Monday, said that the campus has become home to ‘unruly elements’ among students who ‘forced a strike and boycott of classes’.
He also sought a review of Mr. Krishnaswamy as V-C and said ‘suitable action’ should be taken against the students responsible for the boycott.
“It is high time to address acts of blatant indiscipline by the students’ body. These call for stringent action against those behind the reprehensible move to disturb and destroy the peace and the orderly functioning of NLSIU,” he said, and added that the role of Sudhir Krishnaswamy behind the agitation cannot be ruled out. He also added that the student body cannot be a stakeholder in the process of appointment of V-C or any faculty member.
Letter to students
Responding to the protest by students of NLSIU, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who reportedly met the Chief Justice of India and Justice S.A. Bobde, is said to have been told that although there has been misinformation circulating, they have been cognisant of the relevant facts concerning the situation of the appointment of the V-C for the university.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan, in a letter to the students, said that the two judges told him, “The students ought to call off the protest and take part in their examinations immediately. The protest appears to be based on an incomplete understanding of facts, and ought not to be continued.”
