HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the vice-chancellor of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, to respond on Wednesday if he is willing to allow a first-year B.Tech student, who was suspended for the current academic year for consuming cannabis, to attend classes and write examination (II semester) commencing from January 22.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy was hearing an appeal filed by the student seeking direction to the NIT authorities to permit him to attend classes and write examinations.In October 2019, guards of NIT found traces of cannabis in one of the hostels and later found 12 students in an intoxicated state.
The students admitted to have consumed the substance and the Registrar suspended 11 of them in November 2019 for the current academic year. The registrar, however, said that no cannabis was seized from the hostel or institute premises.The student had filed a writ petition earlier this year before a single judge questioning the NIT registrar’s action. The student’s counsel told the court that no prohibited substances was found with the petitioner.
When the standing counsel for NIT told the Court that the petitioner student has already filed an appeal before the NIT Director but needs to be file it before the Senate, the single judge directed the institute director to place the said appeal before the Senate and act on the appeal within three weeks. Aggrieved with the same, the student present appeal was filed before the division bench.
When the matter came up for hearing before the bench, the student’s counsel, DV Seetharamamurthy, told the court that the institute was imposing harsh punishments while ignoring the fact that they are dealing with the young lives. In fact, the punishment was imposed without affording an opportunity to the petitioner and also without taking the overall circumstances into consideration, he argued.
On the other hand, NIT standing counsel T Mahender Rao submitted that the institute has so far suspended about 33 students for their indiscipline and any lenient view will render the college helpless in dealing with unruly students.After hearing both sides, the bench said that the present education system should change and it should deal with the children in a humane and merciful manner.