Eleven Pondy University students suspended for five years, barred from campus for protesting fee hike

Eleven students of Pondicherry University were suspended on December 17 for taking part in a protest one year ago against the varsity's decision to raise fees. The suspended students, who are also asked to pay a fine of Rs 10,000, are barred from taking admission in the varsity for the next five years. Moreover, they have also been banned from entering the varsity premises. 

The letters that the students received on December 22, reads, "The recommendations of the Disciplinary Committee have been approved by the competent authority for taking action against you for participating in the protest held on 06.02.2020 in the Administrative Building of Pondicherry University."

Prior to this, a show-cause notice was sent to the concerned students in August wherein the authorities demanded an explanation for "unruly and unlawful behaviour" as students had gheraoed Vice-Chancellor Gurmeet Singh during the protest. 

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While hundreds were involved in the protest, the eleven suspended students were the most active participants. One of the suspended students and the president of PU Students' Council, Parichay Yadav, pointed out that a gherao is a popular form of protest and it is common for it to happen. "We gheraoed an authority so that he could listen to our demands. It was very democratic and nothing aggressive or violent happened." 

The PUSC led the protest against the large-scale fee hike a year ago but then recalled it after the matter went to the Madras High Court. "We were fighting a legal battle so we had to withdraw the strike," Yadav said. The verdict in the case remains pending even now. 

"This comes while the case is still going on in the Madras High Court. This is not just insensitive, it is a revenge that the university administration is taking on students for raising their voice," he said. 

The Students' Federation of India has taken to the streets as of December 23, they will be protesting outside the university until it takes back the suspension order. "We will now be fighting the legal battle and holding protests against the university simultaneously. This movement is now much larger than the eleven suspended students," Yadav said. 

As earlier reports by Edexlive point out, the varsity has time and again defended the fee hike by pointing out that for several years the fees in PU remained the same. The authorities argue that if there would've been a marginal increase every year, it would have not shown figures of a 200 or 300 per cent fee hike.

However, the students call the varsity's defense a sham. "We have provided them with stats and data. The fee hike was brought about without consultation with the students or students' body. These policies affect the students directly and none have been taken into consideration." The students resorted to protests last year after four rounds of meetings with the authorities led to no favourable results. 

There were multiple attempts made to reach out to the Pondicherry University authorities, however, none were available for comment. This copy would be updated if the authorities respond to queries.