THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Efforts by the government to broker peace between agitating students and management of Kerala Law Academy Law College proved futile on Saturday with the students insisting on the resignation of Lekshmi Nair from the principal’s post.
Education Minister C Raveendranath, who convened the meeting, tried to persuade the students to accept the management’s decision to keep Nair away from the principal’s post for five years.
He also told the students about the management’s assurance that a new principal, who fulfils all the prescribed eligibility criteria, would be appointed soon. However, the students’ organisations, except SFI, insisted that nothing short of Nair’s resignation would be acceptable to them.
Peeved at the students refusing to accept the compromise formula, Raveendranath walked out of the meeting, sources said.
“I put forward the proposal that a new principal be appointed to which the management agreed. When a new principal takes charge, it is obvious the existing principal is no more in the post,” Raveendranath said.
The minister denied he had walked out of the meeting and said discussions with the students lasted for over two hours.
Raveendranath said the government’s first priority was to ensure resumption of academic activity on the campus. He said investigation would continue into cases against the management related to alleged harassment of students and other irregularities.
KSU state-president V S Joy expressed dissatisfaction over the outcome of the talks. He said the minister had spoken as a representative of the management. He said KSU would step up its agitation in the coming days.
Alleging there was a tacit understanding between the education minister and the Law Academy management, ABVP state secretary state secretary P Shyam Raj said the minister was trying to impose the management’s decisions on the students.
ABVP activists would stage a blockade in front of the Law Academy when it reopens on Monday, he said.
AISF leaders condemned the education minister’s “walkout” from the talks. They said it exposed the government’s lack of seriousness in finding a solution to the 25-day-old agitation.
SFI state secretary M Vijin, however, said student organisations with vested interests were scuttling the efforts to find a solution to the breakdown of academic activity.
He said students affiliated to SFI would attend classes when the college reopens on Monday.