VELLORE: Students of Sri Nandhanam Maritime Academy in Tirupattur staged a road-blockade in Tirupattur on Wednesday afternoon to protest the fact that they were not able to appear for the second successive examination on Wednesday.
The Maritime University did not send the hall tickets for the semester examinations after the college management failed to pay the affiliation fee of Rs 50 lakh to the varsity.
The management of the institution had promised its students that the exam would be held as per schedule. “We came prepared for our first examination on Monday with a hope to get the hall ticket. But nothing happened. We were not given question papers and answer sheets from the varsity,” said one of the 28 students of the super senior batch of B Tech Marine Engineering. A total of 56 students took part in the protest.
The student added that “the second exam was also not held today (Wednesday). We have paid our semester fees between Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 1.50 lakh and exam fees on time, but the college administration had failed to pay affiliation fee. Now our life is in quandary.”
The Head of the Department, Principal and Director of the academy have resigned from the institution four weeks ago, citing non-payment of salaries. “We request the officials to ensure that the varsity conducts the remaining four exams as per schedule. It should also conduct the first two exams before the end of this month. Otherwise, we will be either marked as absent or fail. It will be difficult for us to apply for jobs in our field,” said another student.
The police personnel, upon information about the protest, rushed to the spot and pacified the students. Sub-Collector of Tirupattur Shilpha Prabhakar held talks with the students and also contacted the authorities of the university.
The university authorities told the Sub-Collector that the college management had failed to pay the affiliation fee despite the Court’s direction to pay the amount on an instalment basis. “The University filed a contempt of court against the college for not adhering to the direction,” she said quoting the varsity official.
She further said that the university authorities assured that they would conduct the following exams and also promised to take measures to conduct the first two exams. On hearing this, the students withdrew their protest.