Cuttack, Sept. 20: Ravenshaw University has formed a three-member committee to "look into the demand of MCA students for the immediate removal of the head of the computer science department".
The MCA students have demanded the removal of Alok Ranjan Tripathy for alleged misbehaviour during freshers' welcome.
"The committee is looking into the allegations levelled by the students. Action will be taken on the basis of the committee report ," vice-chancellor Prakash Chandra Sarangi told The Telegraph.
The MCA students yesterday called off their agitation protesting the punishment meted out to four of their peers. They were on a dharna demanding cancellation of the suspension of the four students "involved in the closure of the administrative building" on September 14 as part of the agitation for removal of their department head.
The dharna was withdrawn after the university decided to keep on hold the suspension orders till the executive council took a decision.
Sarangi said: "I have received an appeal for revoking of the suspension order. It will be placed before the executive council for a final decision."
"The CCTV footages had showed that the four students had locked the administrative building on September 14. It had virtually paralysed varsity activities for the day. The university disciplinary committee had recommended their suspension after watching the footages," he said.
AIDSO's Ravenshaw University Committee observed Saturday as a black day, demanding revoking of the suspension order. "The suspension order was unprecedented, harsh and anti-student, which was aimed at taking away the democratic rights of the students," said Amarendra Nayak, committee secretary and final year student of the postgraduate department of statistics.
According to the suspension order, which was issued on September 15, Biswaranjan Das was detained for a period of two years from 2016-17 (monsoon semester) and his studentship suspended during this period. He was prohibited from entering the university campus till June 2018, while Biplab Hembrum, Biswaranjan Jena and Kiran Kumar Subudhi were detained for two semesters.
