Calcutta University has decided to keep all student union rooms across its campuses locked until the student elections are conducted, the registrar of the university said in a notice issued on Tuesday.
“An administrative decision has been made that all the students’ union rooms of all the campuses of the University of Calcutta will remain closed (under lock and key) until the students’ union election process is completed,” said the notice.
Concerned secretaries or assistant secretaries are requested to take necessary action immediately, the notice said.
“We took this decision based on the recommendation of a committee constituted on the orders of the vice-chancellor,” said registrar Debasis Das on Tuesday.
A university official said, “In the absence of an elected student body, why would any group of students use the union room?”
“How can they continue with activities in the student union room, which includes organising fests. It only
leads to turf wars between groups of students and can create law and order problems on the campus,” the official said.
In March, education minister Bratya Basu was mobbed and allegedly assaulted by Left and ultra-Left supporters on the Jadavpur University campus, over student elections.
They were upset with the state for not allowing the student polls.
The last time student union elections were held was in 2017.
In unitary universities like Presidency University, Jadavpur University and Rabindra Bharati University, student elections were last held in early 2020.