Commerce College students stage a demonstration in front of the college last week. Picture by UB Photos

Aug. 9: The ongoing crisis at the Gauhati Commerce College deepened today as the students’ union moved the governing body demanding the removal of principal Ghanashyam Nath.

The Gauhati Commerce College Students Union submitted an ultimatum to D. Bharali, the president of the governing body of the college, threatening to intensify its agitation if the principal was not dismissed immediately.

The agitating students also turned down the governing body’s request to call off their strike, demanding a meeting with the members of the body.

The students’ union has been boycotting classes at this premier commerce college since August 3.

Addressing a news conference here this morning, the vice-president of the union, Kuldip Talukdar, said the students had been forced to take the extreme step because of the dictatorial attitude of the principal.

“We are not agitating for fun. We had given the boycott call as a last resort after all our efforts to make the principal understand the genuine concerns of the students failed,” Talukdar said.

General secretary Arjun Rangpee said Nath was adopting a vindictive attitude towards the union office bearers. “Expulsion should be the last disciplinary action but it has become a habit of the principal to expel students for minor offences,” he claimed.

“The principal has said 15 boarders of the hostel were expelled for destroying college property worth over a lakh of rupees. It is a baseless claim and we demand that the principal should make public the findings of the probe conducted into the incident by a committee headed by governing body member Sunanda Choudhury,” Rangpee said. He said the college authorities were spending a substantial amount of money in court cases related to the selection of teachers.

“The students’ money meant for the development of the institution is being used for defending the wrong policies of the college authorities, as the court cases are the result of authorities not following any rules or regulations in the recruitment of teachers. We demand that the principal make public how much money has been spent on this account,” the general secretary said.

The union also alleged that money collected by the college under the students’ welfare fund may have been misutilised, as the students are not even provided basic facilities like proper sanitation, drinking water or a playground.

The college authorities claimed the expulsions were made only in extreme cases of indiscipline. “The principal had even agreed to reconsider the expulsion of two students involved in extorting money from freshers if they brought their parents and apologised. But it has failed to pacify the students who seem to be determined to create problems,” a teacher said. The students’ union, however, said the students were expelled without giving them any opportunity to defend themselves. “We want that prior to expulsion of any student at least one showcause notice should be issued and the matter should be discussed with the union body. I cannot understand why the college authority does not want it,” Rangpee said.