Inspection held at MKU College after students raise slew of complaints

Most of the 4,000 youth studying here hail from socio-economically marginalised families.
Image used for representational purposes only.
Image used for representational purposes only. (Photo | Vinod Kumar T, EPS)
Updated on: 
2 min read

MADURAI: Officials from the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) inspected the MKU College campus in Tallakulam on Tuesday as per directions of E Sundaravalli, Commissioner of Collegiate Education and Chairperson of MKU Convener Committee. The inspection was necessitated following a slew of complaints from the institute's students.

MKU College was established in 1994. It is neither considered a constituent college nor a government-aided college. The financial requirements of the college are fully met by fees paid by the students. Most of the 4,000 youth studying here hail from socio-economically marginalised families, and the tuition fee collected by the college is almost equivalent to that of any self-financing college.

Letter of complaints

In a recent letter to Sundaravalli, the students raised various complaints, including an inadequate number of toilets and unhygienic campus conditions that have been leading to diseases among students. They also said the college principal had been collecting rent for the use of Thol Kappiyar Arangu, a seminar hall. A Vinayagar temple is located on the college campus, which is a violation of Tamil Nadu government rules, and teaching staff perform pooja there every day, the letter mentioned.

Information mismatch

Another major issue raised by the students was the mismatch of information in the recently issued ID cards. One of the students said that the issuance of these cards got delayed, and for the first-year students alone, the cards were issued before the Pongal holidays.

However, in those cards too, the information was incorrect. For example, a man's ID would have a woman's photo or vice versa. Even the addresses were jumbled up. "Due to this wrong printing of information, we are unable to apply for bus passes," the student added and sought action against the staff responsible for the shoddy work. Subsequently, Sundaravalli ordered an inspection at the college. On Tuesday, a team of officials led by MKU estate officer Anand visited the institute and reviewed the situation.

'Someone trying to tarnish my name'

When contacted, MKU College Principal (i/c) M Bhuvaneswaran told TNIE that he had not collected any rent for the use of Thol Kappiyar Arangu. "I had only asked the users to remit the electricity cost for their programmes to the college's bank account. Also, the workers are daily cleaning the premises. Someone had persuaded the students to send the letter with an intention to tarnish my name and the name of the college," he said, and added that he had not received any complaint in the last two years regarding unhygienic premises or scarcity of drinking water.

Complaints not baseless

On request of anonymity, one of the officials who inspected the MKU college said that during their visit, they noticed unhygienic conditions of toilets and a shortage of drinking water. The officials asked the cleanliness workers to clean the toilets and campus immediately.

"Without securing approval from the syndicate, the principal granted permission to a person to run a canteen on the college premises.  We have asked him to obtain the necessary approval. Other directions we gave were to install additional RO drinking water plants, and place incinerators in the girls' toilets. The inspection will continue for a few more days," he added.

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