The Madras High Court has directed Madras University to respond to allegations that a student's admission was cancelled because he was involved with the Ambedkar Periyar group. Last month, a student from the Buddhism department, Kiruba Mohan was asked to leave campus abruptly after attending one month of classes.
Kiruba Mohan was pursuing his second Masters in the campus, he had pursued a degree in Journalism the year before. During his time there, he was the Secretary of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle and organised various protests against injustice on campus and social issues as well. Kiruba's HOD had initially had no clue as to why he was being removed but later told the student that it was because of his involvement in protests and causing trouble.
"He was quite supportive of me, told me that in his 20 odd years of experience, he had never come across anything like this. But informed me that he was facing pressure from the VC and also the Governor of the TN," Kiran told us in an interview. The student also said that the members of the APSC were frequently harassed and pulled up for unnecessary reasons. Eventually the administration told him that his admission had been cancelled because he had not submitted an eligibility certificate, which was technically not required of him.
Since he had no other choice, the student had filed a case against the administration in the Madras High Court. In his petition to the court, Kiruba clearly states the certificates he was required to submit during his admission. He states the instructions given to him, including all the certificates he was to produce and with regard to the eligibility certificate, the notice said — 'In the case of candidate who has passed the qualifying examination from other Universities, an Eligibility Certificate issued by the Registrar, of this University should be produced.' Therefore, since the student had anyway passed out from the same University he was not asked to submit one again. Kiruba also said that his peers were not directed to make such a submission either and had no trouble.
"After verifying all the original document and payment details the admission authorities confirmed my admission. Thereafter I was granted admission for the said Course in July 2019 and I had been attending classes for the past two months till August 28," the student said in his petition. "Once the course fee is paid and original certificates are received the admission process completes. Thereafter if students commit any misconduct disciplinary action will be initiated against them. Unfortunately in my case for no reason the respondents have followed an entirely new procedure of not approving my provisional admission," the petitioner explained.
Kiruba also pointed out that the VC had told the media in an interview that he was being dismissed because of his involvement in the Ambedkar Periyar group. In response, Kiruba said in his petition — "I submit that since I come from the socially and economically downtrodden background I found that the thoughts of Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar were inspirational. Moreover, as Dr. Ambedkar was who drafted the Constitution of India I have great respect for him. Their teaching gave me rational thoughts and I believe that their thoughts are important to promote social awareness to the backward sector of the people."
During the hearing on September 18, the court directed the University to respond to the questions raised in the petition and has asked the counsel to submit their response by September 24.
