Cuttack, July 28: Protest against fee hike and you will be deprived of your lunch for the day. Authorities of the Ravenshaw University have done exactly that and find themselves embroiled in a controversy.
Steep fee hike, along with increase in hostel fees, has led to protest and agitation by students. While the All India Democratic Students' Organisation has been staging a peaceful protest since July 22, wardens of various hostels are allegedly targeting boarders, who are taking part in protests. The latest being denying lunch to university women hostel boarders, who took part in the protest.
"All 380 boarders of the Bhargabi Women's Hostel were not served lunch on July 24 - for which all of them had to go without food for the whole day," said Amarendra Nayak, a final-year postgraduate student of statistics department.
A cross-section of boarders, who didn't want to be named, echoed Nayak. The hostel warden was not available for comment.
Enraged at the incident, advocate Chittaranjan Mohanty, 66, a former president of the Ravenshaw College Students' Union, filed a petition before the Odisha Human Rights Commission, which has ordered a probe into the issue.
Ordering the probe, the commission has said: "Keeping them hungry all day has violated not only their human rights, but also their right to life guaranteed under the fundamental rights in the constitution."
Yesterday, the commission's acting chairman Justice B.K. Mishra directed the higher education department principal secretary "to cause an inquiry into the matter and submit a report to the commission within four weeks".
The rights body issued the order after a petition had sought direction to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 each to the boarders for allegedly violating their human rights by the warden by way of denying them lunch for a day, that too, in a bid to foil their agitation over fee hike, including hostel fees.
According to the annual fee structure, Plus Three arts and commerce students will have to pay Rs 327 more in case of boys, while for girls it is Rs 247. Similarly, science students will have to pay Rs 527 more in case of boys and for girls the amount is Rs 447. In case of postgraduate courses in arts and commerce, annual fees were hiked by Rs 606 and Rs 450 for boys and girls, respectively. For postgraduate courses in science, the fee hike is Rs 1,280 and Rs 1,148 for boys and girls, respectively.
"Apart from the sweeping fee hike, we are also protesting against the unreasonable introduction of annual maintenance fee of Rs 1,000 for each hostel boarder," said Nayak, who is also secretary of the organisation's Ravenshaw University Committee.
The varsity has around 8,000 students. Of them, nearly 3,000 students are boarders in the varsity's 13 hostels.
Registrar Maheswar Agasti told The Telegraph today: "The fees were revised after the executive council approved it in a routine measure to meet the varsity's expenses. However, the council will decide on the students' grievances."
"As for the protest over introduction of Rs 1,000 as an annual maintenance fee for hostel boarders, the university's residential committee, consisting of the chief warden and wardens of all hostels, has been asked to take a quick decision," he said, while reserving comments on the allegation of non-serving lunch to boarders at Bhargabi hostel on July 24.
The students, as part of the ongoing dharna, had gheraoed the registrar for more than two hours today demanding fee hike rollback. "The commission has posted the matter to September 9, while also directing the registrar to submit a report within four weeks," petitioner counsel Khirod Rout said.
