Students protest outside college

Tribune News Service

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Patiala, April 26

The ongoing tussle between students of Government Mohindra College and the college principal over the issuance of roll numbers to students belonging to reserved categories for the coming exams took ugly turn on Thursday.

A high drama was witnessed outside Government Mohindra College when students who were holding a protest in front of the main gate of the college, were allegedly lathi-charged by police personnel. The police also detained two college students for blocking the entry of the main gate of the college. Later, these students were taken to the division 2 police station, Patiala.

Every year, students belonging to the SC/OBC category have to apply for the Post Metric Scholarship. Under the scholarship, the students get exempted from the college fees. The whole process of filling up the form concerned is online wherein students have to self-declare their caste by self-declaration.

However, this year, due to some technical glitch, around 700 students from Mohindra College and 500 students of Punjabi University couldn’t register themselves for no fault of theirs. On Wednesday, on the request of reserved students, District Welfare Officer Gurinderjeet Singh Dhaliwal had requested Principal Sangeeta Handa to issue roll numbers to 700 students, whether they have deposited their fees or not.

But the Principal declined the request to issue the roll numbers to the students saying that Punjabi University is the authority concerned in this matter, and not the District Welfare Officer, therefore, until the university directs the college, we can’t issue the roll numbers to the students.

Today, the principal issued a notice to the SC/OBS students to get their no dues cleared, which implied the submission of fess to get the roll numbers. On seeing the notice, students got agitated and held a protest against the principal.

The protesters also alleged that there was no female police personnel to handle the protesting girls, which finally ended up in a heated argument between the students and police personnel.

However, Principal Sangeeta Handa said, “If the university writes to us to dispatch the roll numbers without fees, we will right away provide the roll numbers.”

Jatinder Singh Mattu, vice-president, SC/BC Employee Union, Punjab, said, “It is shameful that students of reserved category are getting detained for protesting peacefully. Students should be allowed to give exams and fee issue can be resolved later.”