Management's bid to cover up jaundice outbreak and insensitive attitude triggered violence: MP govt

The violence on the Vellore Institute of Technology's Bhopal campus in Sehore district on November 25 was a result of the management's attempts to cover up a jaundice outbreak, ignore complaints about the poor quality of food, and the manhandling of students, officials said. Acting on findings of a three-member panel's report, the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Department issued a show-cause notice to the institution's chancellor, demanding an explanation within seven days. Failure to respond to the notice will lead to disciplinary action, an official stated on Tuesday.

The registrar of VIT's Bhopal campus has confirmed that the notice has been received and a response will be submitted to the government.

Around 4,000 students had staged a violent protest at the VIT campus in Kothri, vandalising and setting fire to the property and vehicles over the alleged ''poor'' quality of food and water and other issues.

The notice, dated December 1, referred to the findings of the probe panel set up in the aftermath of the violence, stating that the VIT campus is maintained like a ''fort'' where the management has its own laws and maintains a dictatorial attitude. The notice, issued under the Madhya Pradesh Private University (Establishment and Operation) Act, 2007's section 41(1), stated that if the management fails to explain within seven days, then disciplinary action will be taken under section 41(2) of the Act, which amounts to taking over the administration of the institute by the government.

Nearly 15,000 students were studying at the VIT campus, but the mess facility is ''too unsatisfactory.'' ''Though the management has outsourced these facilities to service providers, it has no effective control over them. The inmates have expressed a negative opinion about the quality of food and water,'' it said.

It also pointed out that from November 14 to 24, 35 students- 23 males and 12 females- suffered from jaundice, and even the management had accepted this finding before the committee. However, it was found that records on the issue from November 1 to 24 were not maintained properly.

''The campus is kept like a fort where the management has its own laws and nobody is allowed to talk about them. Dictatorial attitude is prevailing in the campus, and the biggest example is that even the Sehore district's Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) was stopped for two to hours at the gate of the institute,'' the notice said. The students told the probe panel that if they tried to raise a complaint, they were threatened to ''suffer atrocities like seizure of their I-cards in the name of discipline, awarding less marks in the practical exam, and not allowing them to appear in the examination'', it said.

When they complained of the poor quality of food, they were asked to eat whatever is cooked without any fuss, according to the notice.

Instead of confidence, an atmosphere of fear prevails on the campus. The management boasted of ''self-obsession and self-confidence'' in managing any situation, and this attitude resulted in the spread of unrest among the students, culminating in violence, it said.

When the management failed to control the situation, it informed the police/administration around 2 AM (on November 26), following which police personnel rushed to the spot.

The inquiry panel also found that the management didn't conduct the microbiological audit of drinking water and other water sources. The students were enraged when they saw their fellow inmates were falling sick, and the management, instead of admitting them to the hospital, asked them to go home, according to the notice.

''In such a situation, instead of managing them, the warden and guards misbehaved and manhandled the students, which resulted in the violent protest on the campus,'' it said.

The panel also pointed out that decision-making on campus regarding various issues, including I-cards, rests with two to three officials, while the rest of the team is just ''ornamental''.

The probe committee also found that the management adopted a non-cooperative attitude, and it appears that they were ''prejudiced'' that it (the panel) had come to campus to work against them only.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)