The outrage among Birla Institute of Technology (BIT)-Patna students over recognition of their degrees continued on Tuesday.
The students, who were on a dharna against the BIT administration, demanded approval of Bachelor in Architecture (BArch) course from University Grants Commission (UGC) and Council of Architecture.
The students, who sat on the dharna on Monday night at the institute, didn't allow the teachers and other staff members to enter the campus on Tuesday.
The agitating students blocked the main entrance of the BIT and most of the teachers and the staff members on Tuesday reached the campus only to find a huge lock hanging at the gate. The students asked the teachers and the officials to cooperate with them during the protest.
Sources said in the evening M.K. Mishra, the vice-chancellor of BIT-Mesra, under which the BIT-Patna comes, reached the Patna campus.
Sources also said the VC, the registrar and other officials who reached BIT-Patna, were not allowed to enter the campus. They later scaled the boundary wall to enter the campus. The BIT-Mesra VC with other administrative officials will have a meeting with the students to sort out the problem.
BIT sources said the VC has told the agitating students that the institute is looking into the issue, but if they want to discontinue they can.
"The VC agreed to return the tuition fees to us. He said they are in talks with the UGC over the approval," said a student, who was part of the agitation. Sajal, a fourth-year architecture student, said: "At our request, teachers and staff members parked their vehicles outside the campus. The teachers and staff members were not allowed to enter the campus. They sat outside it."
The agitating students also didn't allow the institute buses meant for Patna-based students, teachers and staff to leave the campus.
The Patna campus of the Birla Institute of Technology was established in 2006, as a result of an initiative of the Nitish Kumar government. However, the architecture course approval from the Council of Architecture is pending for more than one-and-a-half years.
The students also claimed that as per the UGC directive, a technical (engineering) institute can open six off campuses and for this the mother institution (BIT-Mesra in Ranchi) has to take approval from the UGC. But in the BIT-Patna case, the institute is not approved by the UGC.
The students, who are agitating in support of their demands, claimed that their future is hanging as non-affiliation of their course and non-approval of their institute will ruin their future because their degrees will not be legal.
Akshara, another fourth-year student, said: "The students are protesting for their future which seems uncertain amid the chaos the campus is going through."
Apart from students' protest, the BIT-Patna on Tuesday witnessed high-voltage drama with students holding series of meetings with the college administration. Sources said BIT-Patna director S.P. Lal became emotional in front of the students, claiming he has no role in denying affiliation and approval to the institute and the architecture course.
However, students said both BIT-Patna and BIT-Mesra had knowledge about the architecture course affiliation pending for more than one-and-a-half years and kept the students in the dark.
