The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on Wednesday refused to take any action for the removal of University of Hyderabad vice-chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile.
This came after a delegation of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union, led by its vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora, met Higher Education Secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi with their demands at his office.
“Visitor (President Pranab Mukherjee) is the appointing authority of the vice-chancellor,” a ministry official quoted the Higher Education Secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi as telling the JNU student union delegation when they demanded Rao’s removal.
With the HRD Ministry refusing to take no action against the Hyderabad university vice chancellor, the JNU students have decided to meet President Pranab Mukherjee with their demands.
“We will soon seek an appointment with the Visitor (President),” Shora told Deccan Herald. Over 150 students from JNU, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia staged a protest near Shastri Bhavan, which houses the HRD Ministry, condemning the police crackdown on the Hyderabad university students and teachers, demanding immediate sacking of Rao.
They accused the police and university administration of acting hand in glove and levelling false charges against the students and teachers of Hyderabad university.
A Delhi police personnel was seen taking video shots of the students as they delivered speeches and raised “Azadi” slogans at the protest site.
Later, a JNU student union delegation was taken to the secretary’s office by a police team. “This is matter of law and order which comes under the jurisdiction of the state government,” Oberoi told the student delegation as they requested for Ministry’s intervention for withdrawal of charges against Hyderabad university students and removal of police from the varsity campus.
JNU students said Rao’s return on Tuesday was nothing but a meticulous design of the university administration and a section of teachers.
Published 23 March 2016, 20:38 IST