Violence in TN institutions

VCs of 16 deemed universities seek more time

 
The situation at the ‘Prist University’, a DU near Thanjavur turned serious earlier in the day as over 300 students, dissatisfied with their Management’s explanation that their interests will not suffer in the wake of the HRD Ministry’s Tandon Committee report cited in the apex court, staged a ‘rasta roko’ on the Thanjavur-Tiruchirappalli National Highway.

A scuffle between a section of the students and some staff ensued when they walked out in a huff from the meeting.

Traffic came to a halt on the highway until police rushed to the scene. Police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the students in which four more were injured.

Students of few other colleges elsewhere in the State indulged in similar protests, as in the campus of a private Engineering College near Salem, and at the Veltech’s DU at Pallavaram on the outskirts of Chennai.

Meanwhile, in an emergency meeting, the Vice-Chancellors of the 17 DUs, met at a star hotel and discussed the situation. 

The MGR University’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr M K Padmanabhan, after the meeting, told reporters that they were shocked by the HRD Ministry Panel’s affidavit.

“Give us time... as the future of lakhs of students, teachers and other employees are rpt are at stake,” Padmanabhan pleaded and urged the Centre against any hasty decision. The Vice-Chancellors also discussed the legal remedies.