Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav may regard the closure of Lucknow University as a conspiracy against his government but the courts are not impressed.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered the Uttar Pradesh Police to ensure that all 38,000 students of the university vacated their hostels by Sunday as the authorities move to control growing vandalism on the campus.
Vice-Chancellor R P Singh ordered the university shut last week after a CNN-IBN report showed how student leaders with criminal backgrounds had been provided gunmen by the state government.
Singh ordered hostels to be vacated and declared a one-year moratorium on union elections. The UP Assembly passed a resolution against Singh’s order, and on Friday the state government announced that it would probe allegations of corruption against him.
"We have received several complaints of financial and administrative irregularities against the Vice Chancellor and an inquiry will soon be initiated against him by a competent authority," said UMinister of State for Higher Education Ram Asrey Vishwakarma.
Vishwakarma would ask the Vidhan Sabha Speaker to summon Singh and seek explanation for his alleged remarks on the House.
The court passed the direction to the Uttar Pradesh police chief on a public suit seeking restoration of law and order on the campus. Lucknow University is regarded as the country's largest residential university.
The campus has been witnessing vandalism by groups students opposing. Singh's decision to hold students union elections strictly in accordance with the recommendations of a panel headed by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyndoh.
With Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav openly backing the students, police had been dilly-dallying on the question of providing adequate security for executing the vice chancellor's decisions.
Taking serious note of this, a high court bench headed by judge Pradeep Kant summoned the vice chancellor as well as state police chief Bua Singh on Friday afternoon.
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Expressing its displeasure over the police chief's stance, Kant made it clear that it was his duty to ensure the university hostels were vacated by Sunday. He also directed Bua Singh to submit an action taken report to the court by Tuesday.
Deploring the state of lawlessness in Lucknow University, Kant expressed shock when Bua Singh sought to describe the atmosphere on the campus as "peaceful".
"It is really surprising that you can't see what is happening on the campus when the whole world can. It is all over on television channels and in the newspapers," the judge said.
"It is not your job to examine whether the vice chancellor's assessment about the situation on the campus is right or wrong. Your job is to concede the university request for security," he added.
The vice chancellor has gone on record to declare "there are at least 200 students with criminal antecedents and unless we can rid the campus of them, we cannot restore order on the campus.
"We have already suspended 165 students and more suspensions will follow", he said.
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