The Principal of a private college here has alleged that he has stopped coming to the college following threats from members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) for about a month now.
N. Yousef, Principal, MES College at Kuthuparamba, alleged that the students were preventing him from entering the college and discharging his duties. He said the students had turned against him after some of them, mainly SFI members, were not allowed to attend the semester examination for want of attendance.
He said he intervened only after one of the staff in the college was threatened by the students after suspecting him to be instrumental in disqualifying them. This was reported at the nearby police station, he said.
However, the students, who came to know about this, agitated against him and the staff. The student members of the SFI, with local support, did not allow him to enter the college, he said. The management asked him to remain away for a few days until things settled down and suggested to administer the work from home, he said.
Meanwhile, the students also gave a complaint to the Director of Students Service (DSS) against the Principal levelling various allegations. He could not attend the meeting called by the DSS with sufficient documents, as the students had imposed restrictions on him from entering the college, Mr. Yousef said.
However, the SFI denied the allegation and said that it was the college management that had prevented the Principal from entering the college for denying attendance to college union members.
The DSS, which received complaints from the students, said there were more allegations against the Principal. Only few students had attendance shortage, while various other complaints had come from the college, said Priya Varghese, who is probing the issue. She will submit a report before January 15.
Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran said the issue had come to his notice. If the Principal had such problems, it could have been brought to the Vice Chancellor’s notice. However, the issue would be looked into, he said.
