KOCHI: The Kalady Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS) syndicate on Monday decided to give conditional relief to 12 of the 16 students suspended on September 1. The students were suspended following an SFI-led protest during a syndicate meeting on August 13 amid allegations of staging a mock cremation of the vice-chancellor, manhandling her, and attempting to damage property. The syndicate decision comes in the wake of intense protests by students on the campus.
K B Sabu, SSUS syndicate member, said the decision to revoke the suspension of 12 students was taken at the syndicate meeting held on Monday.
“However, these students will be allowed back only after they submit an undertaking that they will not engage in violent protests and activities on the campus in the future. These students will have to come in person with their parents or guardians to give the apology letter and the undertaking,” Sabu said.
He said the suspension of four students -- Shyamjith, Shraddha, Abhijith K V and Archana -- has not been revoked as they violated the norms and entered the campus even as the disciplinary action against them was under way. Their suspension has been extended for two more months pending investigation, the syndicate member said.
“A decision regarding them will be arrived at after the investigations are over,” Sabu added.
However, the academic fate of the students remains uncertain, with their eligibility to sit the upcoming examinations depending on the High Court ruling on an appeal filed by Vice Chancellor Ciza Thomas and the syndicate, challenging an earlier interim order by a single judge directing the university to accept examination fees and allow the 16 suspended students to provisionally write the semester examinations starting November 4.
Meanwhile, the 16 students have unanimously decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike. Shyamjith, a former university students’ council chairperson, told TNIE that the students want an unconditional revocation of their suspension.
“The 12 students are not ready to submit a written apology. We demand that the suspension of all 16 students be revoked. Our decision to go on hunger strike remains independent of the fate of the appeal filed by the VC in the HC against the interim order by the single judge,” he said.
The SSUS campus has been boiling for more than 60 days. The events that led to the suspension of the 16 students followed an intense strike in August called by the SFI (Students Federation of India) raising an 18-point charter of demands regarding the lack of basic campus infrastructure, water shortage, and unfulfilled faculty positions.
However, things turned ugly when, on August 13, the protesters conducted a “street play” involving a mock funeral, which students claimed was for defective theatre department equipment, but the administration interpreted it as a symbolic funeral for Vice Chancellor Ciza Thomas.
The VC alleged that she was physically blocked, manhandled, and assaulted by the protesting students as she left a syndicate meeting. Police subsequently arrested four SFI activists. Following an internal inquiry, the syndicate suspended 16 students indefinitely.
HIGH COURT RESERVES ORDER ON SANKARA VARSITY APPEAL
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has reserved its order on an appeal filed by Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, challenging a single judge’s interim order allowing 16 suspended students to appear for their semester examinations.
The university submitted that the students, did not have the required attendance or registration to appear for the examinations. It contended that the single judge had issued the interim order without verifying whether the petitioners had the fullfilled the criteria required for registration
Protest against higher edu min: Maharaja’s suspends 2 students
Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, on Monday suspended student union leaders—including the college union chairperson and vice-chairperson—for 10 days following a protest against Higher Education Minister Roji M John. The governing council took the decision in a meeting held on Monday.
According to the council, the suspension is part of the disciplinary action taken against college union chairperson Praneelraj and vice-chairperson Nafeesathul Misriya. The action was taken against the SFI leaders for disrupting the college convocation ceremony on October 30. The protesters raised slogans and displayed banners demanding that the minister intervene to revoke the suspension.