The centrally funded Allahabad University has disallowed public meetings, awareness programmes and rallies on the campus without permission, a measure decried by students as contrary to the idea of freedom and free debate.
The university on Monday issued a notification suggesting that students would have to seek permission for such events.
“This is to notify that organising rallies, public meetings, cultural or sports events, awareness programmes, etc, within the premises of the University of Allahabad shall require the prior permission of the competent authority, subject to the discretion of the Competent Authority. Any such event organised without prior approval shall be treated as unauthorised and shall not be permitted,” the notification stated.
Several students said the university had earlier prohibited protests on the campus.
The latest order will prevent students from gathering on the campus to discuss academic issues.
“According to the order, we cannot organise any academic debate or informal talks by any speaker. We used to hold poetry recitation sessions, which can no longer be held. This shows the administration is paranoid about student activities,” he said.
Several public universities like South Asian University (SAU), Lucknow University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University have taken similar measures in recent years to prevent students from holding protests.
In 2023, the SAU authorities forced students to sign an undertaking with several provisions. One of the provisions said: “I hereby declare that I will neither join in
any agitation/ strike for the purpose of forcing the authorities of the University to resolve any problem, nor I will participate in any activity which has a tendency to disturb the peace and tranquillity of academic environment of the SAU campus and/or its Hostel premises.”
Neha, president of the All India Students Association (AISA), said educational institutions bring in police even when students hold small gatherings on genuine issues such as fee hike, dearth of facilities or flawed admission rules.
“The government does not wants students to hold protests on any issue. The universities are abiding by the government instructions,” she said.
Fee hikes have been a sore point in every public university. Allahabad University increased the fees for BA courses to ₹4,500 this year from ₹3,900 last year. Delhi University has also hiked fees by 10 per cent.