SFI stages protest at HP University against PhD admission to 'ineligible' candidates

Students affiliated with the Students Federation of India gathered near the Pink Petal in the university and raised slogans demanding cancellation of PhD admission of three students and early declaration of postgraduate and undergraduate results.

The Himachal Pradesh University unit of SFI held a protest on the campus on Thursday accusing the varsity of admitting ''ineligible'' students into the PhD programme and demanded immediate declaration of undergraduate and postgraduate results. Students affiliated with the Students Federation of India gathered near the Pink Petal in the university and raised slogans demanding cancellation of PhD admission of three students and early declaration of postgraduate and undergraduate results. The group threatened the varsity administration of an intense agitation if it did not cede to its demands.

''The university, since 2019, during the tenure of Vice Chancellor Prof Sikendar Kumar, who is now a Rajya Sabha member from BJP, started politics of nepotism and gave admission to three ineligible candidates in PhD, including his son,'' alleged SFI Joint Secretary (HPU campus) Santosh Kumar. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the university authorities on the sly gave PhD admission to the wards of three teachers, he said.

Kumar also said that the Enterprise resource planning (ERP), an online system, was responsible for the mess leading to delay in declaration of the result for the UG and PG courses.

The university authorities should either rectify the problem or change the system, he added.