Students demanded that the Vice Chancellor be kept out of the process to select an ombudsman alleging that “he is also under scrutiny” for his role in Mr Vemula’s suicide.
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“We are open for a dialogue but not with Rao and not with anyone till he is in the VC’s chair”, said Venkatesh Chauhan, convener of the committee.
The council meeting coincided with the Chalo HCU movement called by the group to protest the “violence unleashed on students” ever since Rao returned as its vice-chancellor on 22 March.
“They tried to barge into the campus…In view of the law and order issue, police stopped them and took 83 of them into preventive arrest”, he said.
Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna, expressing solidarity with the protesting students against Rao’s removal, resigned from the post and walked out of the Academic Council Meeting going on in the Varsity.
Raising slogans against the vice chancellor and central ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, the protestors climbed on to the gate.
Hyderabad police erected barricades and deployed additional personnel to prevent protesting students from heading towards the VC Lodge.
On March 23, the college experts had didn’t permit any outsider, including politicians and media persons, about the university. The JAC said that the two-member inquiry commission sent by the HRD Ministry has blamed the VC and the administration over Rohit’s death. After facing heavy criticism from all quarters about the improper handling of protesting students, he admitted on Tuesday to plagiarism in three research papers, which he had co-authored in 2007 and 2014, reported The Times Of India.
The protests took place as the 76th academic council meeting was underway, which was deliberating the appointment of an equal opportunity cell among other things such as appointment of an ombudsman and anti-discrimination officer. “In particular it is rated the best in meeting the requirement of Social Justice”, it said.
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The meeting also discussed finalisation of entrance examin schedule for the admissions for academic year 2016-17. It was also made a decision to reduce the application fee for OBC candidates, the statement said.
