Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A member of Kerala University syndicate on Monday said that the varsity would not approve any draft that seeks to ban student politics or deny them a platform to voice their views.
Ajay Juel Kuriakose was responding to reports about a draft Code of Conduct regulating student politics that had recently come up for consideration before the university syndicate.
Kuriakose is the convenor of the sub-committee considering the draft prepared following the directions of the Chancellor and the Kerala High Court.
In a video message, Kuriakose, a Congress leader, said the draft currently circulating in the media was not an officially issued draft of the university.
"Such a draft was brought to the sub-committee deliberately to create a misunderstanding," he said.
He said all members of the subcommittee had unanimously stated that the draft to be submitted should understand students, recognise student organisational activities and contain proposals acceptable to them.
"Other than that, no matters regarding banning student organisational activities, or banning them to deny students a platform to voice their reactions, were ever discussed in that sub-committee," he said.
The draft currently being circulated was purposefully sent to all members of the eight-member subcommittee, comprising three CPI(M) members, one BJP member and four Congress members, he said.
"It was purposefully sent to all members of such a committee. Very precise action regarding what needs to be done about this will be taken in the coming days," he said.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Kuriakose had also said the university had not finally implemented any regulation on the matter and that the document that had emerged was only a preliminary draft prepared as part of an ongoing process.
He said the Kerala High Court, through an interim order, had directed university syndicates to formulate a mechanism to regulate student political activities on campuses.
Based on the court's direction, the university syndicate referred the matter to the Affiliation and Student Services Standing Committee, which formed an eight-member sub-committee comprising representatives associated with the Congress, CPI(M) and BJP, he said.
The sub-committee comprises him as convenor, R S Sasikumar, Sibi C Babu and Ahamed Fazil Y from the Congress, Nazeeb S, Rahim K and Pramod N from the CPI(M), and Vinodkumar T G Nair from the BJP, he said.
At its first meeting, the sub-committee asked the concerned university department to prepare a preliminary draft, which was the document that had now emerged, Kuriakose said.
He said the sub-committee would discuss the draft in detail, following which a second draft would be prepared and sent by registered post to all student political organisations to invite their views and concerns in writing.
The suggestions received would be considered before a final draft was prepared and placed before the standing committee, he said.
After any required changes, the proposal would have to be discussed in detail at a syndicate meeting chaired by the Vice Chancellor before it could be officially notified, Kuriakose said.
"With so many stages still remaining, portraying an internal draft as a final order is not correct," he said.
Kuriakose also referred to the Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on social media, and said LDF syndicate members were part of the sub-committee.
On Sunday, Higher Education Minister Roji M John also clarified that there was no move to ban student politics at Kerala University and termed reports to the contrary factually incorrect.
Vijayan, the Left-aligned university employees' union, and student organisations, including SFI and KSU, had raised objections to the draft rules concerning political activities on Kerala University campuses.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
