Doon University Chhatra Adhikaar Sangharsh Samiti (DUCASS) office bearers were punished for raising voice against ad-hoc attitude of Doon University administration. DUCASS vice president Barkha Mathur said that after the members of DUCASS submitted a memorandum to the vice chancellor of Doon University against the decision to scrap the much awaited MPhil Economics course, the authorities asked Mathur to vacate her accommodation in the university guest house.
According to her, the MPhil Economics course, the first of its kind in the entire State that was announced in national newspapers on April 23, 2013 and subsequently prospectus and forms were sold to students both in online and offline mode is now scrapped for unknown reasons.
The first couple of days many forms were sold and there was a lot of enthusiasm for this declared interdisciplinary research degree.
"In the meantime due to some internal conflict among the faculty members and the biased support of the Vice Chancellor to the department head who publicly resigned through a mass mail to all faculty members because she did not want the programme to start, the administration arbitrarily stopped further selling of the form and subsequently stopped the students from submitting the filled in forms," alleged DUCASS.
When students met the vice chancellor seeking reasons behind the decision, the vice chancellor gave various unconvincing answers. When DUCASS members looked into the matter, they found that all the answers given by the VC were baseless. While the 17th Academic Council approved the course and the syllabus, there was a commitment from the administration that the issue of number of faculties will be taken care of.
However, no advertisement for recruitment in economics was made. Only recently under the pressure from the students and some faculty members, the university has advertised for the post only to appoint some contractual faculty and no advertisement was made against the vacant positions in the unreserved category.
The members of DUCASS apprehend that the advertisement that came only after scrapping the MPhil course is meant to absorb some selected candidate supported by the present Head of the Department of Economics who herself enjoys a strong support of the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar of the University.
While such arbitrary attitude of the vice chancellor is condemnable the administration has now come out heavily on DUCASS, averred Mathur.
Immediately after the submission of the memorandum to the VC, the vice President of DUCASS received a call from the university administration and was asked to vacate the dormitory of the guest house where she was residing for last two weeks for completing her MA thesis.
Rejecting her application to extend the facility for another two weeks, the Registrar of the University replied that the guest house is meant for the faculty members only and students cannot reside there.
The university guest house in the past had been used as a dharamshala to host marriage functions, giving accommodation to people who are constructing houses in nearby localities, using it as get together points for many outsiders and to resettle students who had been rusticated from the hostel in past on account of disciplinary measures, complained Mathur adding that she is being targeted for daring to speak out against corrupt and unreasonable practices.
However, the university registrar BM Harbola said that there was no association called DUCASS in the university. He said that the MPhil course was not introduced as necessary conditions could not be fulfilled.