Cuttack, Jan. 20: A committee constituted by Orissa High Court following agitation by students that had paralysed functioning of Ravenshaw University for a fortnight in October-November last year, has recommended continuance of the 90-odd-year-old East Hostel as a “men’s hostel”.

“Since East Hostel has already been renovated as a boys’ hostel after spending huge amount of money, the same may be allowed to continue as gents’ hostel and the boarders of any other gents’ hostel as well as some students who are awaiting hostel accommodation may be shifted to East Hostel. The vacated hostel may be renovated as a girls’ hostel,” the committee, headed by Justice (Retired) A.K. Parichha, observed in its report.

The report, submitted in a sealed cover by the seven-member committee, was opened in court today. The high court had constituted the committee on November 12, 2010, after taking up for analogous hearing two public interest litigations seeking judicial intervention to resolve the dispute over East Hostel.

A PIL was filed by two former students’ union presidents of Ravenshaw College — Akshaya Kumar Das (1971-72) and Chittaranjan Mohanty (1970-71). They were seeking intervention against an ongoing strike and called for restoration of normality on the campus.

The other PIL was filed by Subendu Mohanty, a former student of Ravenshaw University. It sought direction for “accommodating after completion of renovation work of East Hostel the 35 former boarders of the Hostel and the 62 first-year students from whom fees for admission to the hostel was taken”.

Demanding a roll back in the decision to allot the hostel after renovation to girl students, the agitators had locked the varsity’s main gates. The ruckus paralysed all academic activities in the university from October 28. However, the strike was withdrawn on November 15 after the high court appointed the peace committee to look into the dispute.

“During our visit, we found that all toilets and other structures of East Hostel have been renovated to accommodate male students. We also found large number of male students living in that hostel by keeping their belongings on the floor and sleeping on the floor,” the committee said in its report, a copy of which in possession of The Telegraph.

The committee suggested direction to the Ravenshaw University administration “to create separate infrastructure for the management institute and shift that institute from the West Hostel so that West Hostel would be available for occupation of students of Ravenshaw University as before. They also asked for this exercise to be completed within a period of one or two years. They may also be asked to allot the vacant rooms of West Hostel to some of the students awaiting hostel accommodation”.

The Committee further suggested direction to the Ravenshaw University administration “to send proposal and estimate immediately to the state government for construction of two multi-storied hostels in the University campus and then state government may be directed to allocate necessary funds for the same so that construction of both the hostels can be completed within a period of two years”.

As evident from the report two members of the Committee – the two student representatives of Ravenshaw University - Harishankar Rout (President) and Soubhagya Laxmi Kar (vice president) however, disagreed with the suggestion for continuance of East Hostel as a Gents’ Hostel. The other members included two senior advocates - Jagannath Patnaik and Kedar Nath Jena, two educationists - Dr Faizan Mustafa (vice-chancellor of National Law University) and Dr Manjushree Patnaik (member state legal services authority).

Dr Faizan Mustafa (vice-chancellor of National Law University) on the other hand observed: “I may also put on record that the university has the prerogative of allocating any hostel to boys or girls and no student can or should have a claim to any particular hostel”.

Lalmohan Patnaik

Cuttack, January 20 - A committee constituted by the Orissa High Court following a student agitation that had left the Ravenshaw University paralyzed for a fortnight in October-November last year, has recommended continuance of the more than 90 year old East Hostel as “a gents’ hostel”.

“Since East Hostel has already been renovated as a boys hostel spending huge amount of money, the same may be allowed to continue as gents hostel and the boarders of any other gents hostel as well as some students who are awaiting hostel accommodation may be shifted to East Hostel and the vacated hostel may be renovated as a Girls hostel for occupation of girls students”, the Committee headed by Justice (Retired) A.K.Parichha observed in its report.

The report submitted in a sealed cover by the seven-member committee was opened in Court today. The High Court had constituted the committee on November 12, 2010 after taking up for analogous hearing two public interest litigations seeking judicial intervention to resolve the dispute over East Hostel.

One PIL was filed by two former student union presidents of Ravenshaw College – Akshaya Kumar Das (1971-72) and Chittaranjan Mohanty (1970-71) seeking intervention against an ongoing strike and restoration of normalcy in the capus.

The other PIL was filed by Subendu Mohanty, a former student of Ravenshaw had sought direction for “accommodating after completion of renovation work of East Hostel the 35 ex-boarders of the Hostel and the 62 first year students from whom fees for admission to the hostel was taken”.

The agitating students demanding a roll back in the decision to allot the hostel, after renovation, to girl students had kept the main gates locked and paralyzing all academic activities in the University from October 28. But the strike was withdrawn on November 15 after the High Court appointed the Peace Committee to look into the dispute.

“During our visit, we found that all toilets and other structures of East Hostel have been renovated to accommodate male students. We also found large number of gents students living in that hostel by keeping their belongings on the floor and sleeping on the floor”, the Committee said in its report, a copy of which in possession of The Telegraph.

The Committee suggested direction to the Ravenshaw University administration “to create separate infrastructure for the management institute and shift that institute from the West Hostel so that West Hostel would be available for occupation of the students of Ravenshaw University as before and this exercise may be directed to be completed within a period of one or two years. They may also be asked to allot the vacant rooms of West Hostel to some of the students awaiting hostel accommodation”.

The Committee further suggested direction to the Ravenshaw University administration “to send proposal and estimate immediately to the state government for construction of two multi-storied hostels in the University campus and then state government may be directed to allocate necessary funds for the same so that construction of both the hostels can be completed within a period of two years”.

As evident from the report two members of the Committee – the two student representatives of Ravenshaw University - Harishankar Rout (President) and Soubhagya Laxmi Kar (vice president) however, disagreed with the suggestion for continuance of East Hostel as a Gents’ Hostel. The other members included two senior advocates - Jagannath Patnaik and Kedar Nath Jena, two educationists - Dr Faizan Mustafa (vice chancellor of National Law University) and Dr Manjushree Patnaik (member state legal services authority).

Dr Faizan Mustafa (vice chancellor of National Law University) on the other hand observed: “I may also put on record that the University has the prerogative of allocating any hostel to boys or girls and no student can or should have a claim to any particular hostel”.