Drop ‘illegal’ Himachal Pradesh University PhD seats, demands ABVP

Shimla, April 2

The Himachal Pradesh University unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad here today gheraoed the Department of Commerce Chairperson over the alleged malpractices in the admission process of the PhD programme of the department. The student body demanded that the admissions done for the PhD programme be cancelled. The ABVP also demanded the resignation of the department chairperson.

ABVP HPU president Gaurav Kumar said it had been observed for a long time that the administration indulged in illegal admissions for a PhD programme in the Commerce Department. Now, efforts were being made to change reserved seats for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities to general seats in the Department of Commerce, Kumar alleged. “The question arises whether the department, without any advertisement, cancelled seats and converted them into general category seats, attempting to abolish reservation under the pressure of the administration,” he said.

“Neither is there any provision in the university’s ordinances nor does the admission process follow the UGC guidelines while converting ST seats into general seats,” Kumar added.

“If the department does not cancel these admissions in the coming days, the ABVP will not refrain from resorting to protests,” Kumar said.