Telangana CM to take up HCU issue with Prime Minister

While Hyderabad Central University today maintained that there was no violation of human rights of students who are opposing resumption of duty by Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said he would take up the entire issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
HCU registrar M Sudhakar in his report to the APSHRC today termed the complaint against the VC as false. None of the hostels were closed and not a single student was evicted from the hostels, he said.
As to the incidents of March 22, a note issued by the HCU said when the VC was holding a meeting with members of the Executive Council at his official residence, a mob vandalised the personal property of the VC and that of the University besides roughing up the security staff.

"But for the timely intervention of students of Life Sciences and some non-teaching staff, who formed a protective security cordon, the Vice Chancellor and other faculty members would have been brutally assaulted," the note said.
Twenty-five students and two associate professors were arrested for vandalising the VC's residence. Their bail plea would come up for hearing on Monday.
The students are opposed to resumption of duty by Podile, whom they hold responsible, alongwith others, for the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula

The issue also rocked the Telangana Assembly, with the opposition Congress seeking a debate. MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said the Assembly should pass a resolution seeking the VC's recall, but the Chief Minister Rao said it may not be appropriate as the HCU comes under the Central jurisdiction.

Rao, however, assured the House that he would take up the issue, including the demand to recall the VC, with the Prime Minister.
During the debate, Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy claimed it had been established that Rohith Vemula was not a Dalit, but belonged to the Vaddera community.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Democratic Students Union
today staged a protest outside HCU campus, demanding immediate arrest and removal of Vice Chancellor Podile.
They were not allowed to go in.
Earlier, Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika again tried to enter the campus today, but was stopped by the security. She was later shifted in an ambulance to a private hospital as she complained of ill-health, HCU security officers said.

On March 23, Radhika had staged a sit-in protest in front of the main entrance after she was denied entry to meet students who were injured in police lathicharge on March 22.
Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile issued a statement today, appealing the students and parents to extend cooperation.
"The University administration seeks your kind co-operation and requests you to advise your ward to avoid any activity that will affect the reputation of the institution from which they wish to graduate," he said.
"While difference of opinion and dissent is not discouraged, the University certainly does not take kindly to vandalism and other acts of indiscipline," he said, adding that the University had set up mechanisms for grievance redressal at all stages of administration.