The 1st Emergency Meeting of the Students’ Senate, 2017-18 was held on 3rd September, 2017 to take cognizance of a recent mass disciplinary action taken against students, in response to a complaint against ragging filed by some Y17 students. On 2nd September 2017, the Senate Students’ Affairs Committee (SSAC), decided to take punitive action over 100 students, and punishments included all possible actions in the purview of the SSAC. The student nominees of SSAC couldn’t divulge more information because they were bound to maintain confidentiality of the proceedings of the committee, until the order is communicated to the students involved.
It should be noted that the following mandatory procedures were not followed in the SSAC meeting
- The students in question were not even informed about the complaint being considered against them, thereby not allowing them to present their case
- The Warden’s statement, which is considered as the official statement for the incidents that take place inside the hall premises was not taken into account
- The committee decided to give punishments to a group of students at different levels because the people who were responsible for ragging didn’t come up to take the responsibility for breaking the rules
The Students’ Senate has drafted a resolution to be sent to the Director highlighting the issues mentioned above and has also requested the Director to constitute a Special Disciplinary Committee to investigate the matter in an unbiased and fair manner. The resolution can be found at the following link : https://goo.gl/a2SoXD
The Senate expressed its deep discontentment against the procedure undertaken by the committee in taking action against the students. The Students’ Senate noted that the SSAC acted in violation of the democratic foundations and values this institute has been built on. It acts as an evidence of the autocratic approach taken by the SSAC as it completely undermines the authority and power of the Students’ Senate, and thus the students.
Written by Akhilesh Tayade
