Kolkata, Aug 27 (IANS): The inquiry commission on the recent clashes at Jadavpur University held its first meeting on Thursday morning as scheduled. However, the meeting was held at the Salt Lake campus instead of Jadavpur University's main campus in south Kolkata.
A section of the members of the Left student organisation had repeatedly demanded that student representatives should be included in the inquiry commission. However, the university has not accepted that demand so far.
Retired Calcutta High Court Justice Pranab Kumar Chatterjee chairs the commission. Professor Soumendu Chatterjee, Director of IQAC of Presidency University, is a member, while Jadavpur University micro analyst Sumanta Jana is the presenting officer.
Before the meeting began, the retired judge said the process for taking complaints and deciding how they would be received would be finalised through discussion. He added that as per the terms of reference, the commission would thoroughly investigate each issue. All complaints and paper clippings submitted would be discussed and investigated.
He also said the commission would review all documents submitted by the university authorities. If any other party wanted to submit information or documents, the commission would also accept and examine them.
The chairman said there was no possibility of any delay in the investigation. Efforts would be made to complete the work as soon as possible, but the final step would be taken only after the commission heard all information submitted and heard from those who wanted to express their views.
He added that the speed of the work depended on how many documents were received and how many people came forward to speak. Therefore, after all complaints were submitted, the next step would be to examine them.
On August 19, around 8 p.m., a clash broke out between members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Left student organisations surrounding a general meeting of students called in the engineering department. The main campus of the university remains tense because of this dissatisfaction. Both parties and the university authorities have already filed complaints with the police station. In addition, the police have taken the CCTV footage of the incident.
The university formed an inquiry commission to look into all the allegations. When the commission was formed, it initially had three members.
Subhas Shankar Sarkar, former Vice-Chancellor of Netaji Subhas Mukta University, was supposed to take charge as chairman. However, he refused. After that, in a meeting on Monday, the commission decided to appoint retired Calcutta High Court Justice Pranab Kumar Chatterjee as chairman. Subsequently, another commission member, Arunashis Goswami, also resigned.
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This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.