Facing flak from all the quarters, Hyderabad university Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile on Sunday “went on leave,” saying he was advised “to be away from the campus” till the end of the current impasse in wake of the suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula last week.
No sooner did the university put up the notice on the V-C’s leave on its website, that another protest began on the campus as Dalit faculty members alleged that the professor given interim charge too had “deep involvement” in the case and in the death of another student from the community.
The university put a notice on its website saying, “The Vice-Chancellor will be on leave. In the absence of the Vice-Chancellor, Vipin Srivastava, the senior-most Professor, shall perform the duties of the Vice-Chancellor wef 24-01-2016.” It did not mention the period of leave. The development comes two days after the two-member HRD Ministry fact-finding committee submitted its report. According to sources the onus of the complete deadlock was laid on the V-C.
When contacted, Podile said: “There is no pressure from anybody. It is my concern for my university. We want to resolve the issue now. There is an impasse now and to break that impasse we need to have some mechanism where I am advised to be little away from campus and somebody has to be there to be in command.
“We have a provision to ask a senior Professor to be in-charge and that’s what we have done.” Asked whether he would take charge once normalcy returns to the university, he replied in the affirmitive.
However, the SC/ST Faculty Forum and SC/ST Officers Forum expressed “shock” over the decision to appoint Vipin Srivastava as officiating Vice-Chancellor and said it was disappointed that Podile was not dismissed.
They alleged that Vipin Srivastava was one of the “accused” in the suicide of another Dalit student, Senthil, in 2008.
“We are shocked and dismayed at Vipin Srivastava assuming the office of Vice-Chancellor of Hyderabad Central University. Srivastava has been accused in the suicide of a Dalit student, Senthil, in 2008.
More recently he headed the Executive Council Sub-Committee which has been responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula Chakravarti,” the Forums said in a joint statement. The Sub-Committee had recommended disciplinary action against Rohith and four other scholars in connection with an assault case.
A fresh batch of seven students resumed the strike to press their demands, including sacking of Podile who has been named in the FIR on charges of abetment of suicide and under relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in connection with Rohith’s case. One of the students sitting on a hunger strike was hospitalised a day ago.
National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) member PA Kamalamma visited the university and said that the Commission, soon after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, issued five recommendations to the university authorities and the State Government to be implemented within 10 days. The Commission will wait for 10 days for the response from the Telangana Government and the university authorities.