BHUBANESWAR | Monday, November 2, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Will Vani Vihar be handed over to police?
PNS | Bhubaneswar
Growing indiscipline at Vani Vihar, the campus of Odisha's oldest and premier institution of higher learning, the Utkal University, has become a matter of grave general concern. The continuous vandalism in the campus since August has seriously hit its academic environment.
As per reports, a desperate university administration is contemplating to hand over the campus to the Twin City Police Commissionerate.
Long back in 1979, a distressed students' u nion, irked over the callousness of the university authorities, had passed a resolution to make the then Superintendent of Police of Bhubaneswar Prafulla Chandra Mishra the university's Vice-Chancellor (VC).
Is history going to repeat itself after 30 years when the university's present hapless Vice-Chancellor Prof Binayak Rath hands over the campus to Twin City Commissioner of Police (CP) Bijay Kumar Sharma?
Things are going from bad to worse as the university officials are busy backbiting and indulging in petty politics among themselves, lament insiders. When Rath, professor of economics at IIT Kanpur, took over as the V-C in March, 2008, there were high expectations among students and teaching communities. All efforts of Prof Rath to contain the rising student unrest have proved futile.
Insider reveals that Prof Rath's wrong strategy to placate a group of students has resulted in such a mess. A number of students and their leaders have turned against him. On numerous occasions, the V-C has sought the help of the police to tackle in-campus fighting. Neither the students nor the faculty seem to take this in a positive way.
Prof Rath — a well-intentioned academician — has neither the administrative nor the leadership qualities to handle such a situation, lamented a senior professor of the university. Though the university authorities know well about the errant students creating disorder, they have not issued a show-cause notice to them, said an administrative officer. The V-C has powers to impose penalty on such students and issue detention order and rusticate or expel them from the university, but he has not taken any of the steps, reveals he.
Prof Rath is blaming the PG Council for the indecision, whereas the latter wants the V-C to display a tough stand. "Hide-and-seek between the V-C and chairperson of the PG Council is going on, and we are in helpless condition," rues a senior Professor. Frustrated over the mess, Prof Rath has threatened to resign, but his threat seems to have little effect on the worsening situation.
The State Government, on its part, is in no mood to intervene in the University's affairs as behind the scene political manipulations are continuing unabated. While the Student Congress is on an aggressive mode, the student wing of the ruling BJD is reportedly trying to piggyback on the police authorities. Sources said BJD leaders are trying to take some active Student Congress leaders into their fold.
In such a scenario, an otherwise politically smart Minister Higher Education Debi Prasad Mishra is just not poking his nose in the affairs of the university.
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