JU row: Students continue hunger strike, authorities seek advisory from Chancellor
Kolkata, July 7: With stalemate continuing in Jadavpur University over its decision to scrap admission test for six under-graduate courses, its authorities on Saturday sought a directive from West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi - the ex-officio chancellor - on the emerging situation, even as students continued their hunger strike.
Virtually backing the agitating students, the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) sought an appointment with Tripathi and endorsed the stand of a section of teachers to stay away from the entire admission process.
University Registrar Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said a report has been sent to Tripathi on the prevailing situation, in the aftermath of the university Executive Council's decision to do away with the system of holding admission tests for six subjects in the humanities stream for the coming academic year.
"On Friday, our Vice Chancellor (Suranjan Das) and Pro Vice Chancellor (Pradip Ghosh) had called on the honourable Chancellor, who had asked for the report. Today (Saturday), we have sent it to him," he said.
Bhattacharjee said the authorities were now awaiting an advice or directive from the Chancellor.
"The rule is once the Executive Council comes out with a resolution, then for carrying out any modifications in the resolution, if at all it is done, we need a directive or advisory from the Chancellor. Otherwise, there will be legal complications. We are now awaiting some advice or directive from him," he said.
Meanwhile, 20 students were on hunger strike, outside the university's administrative headquarters Aurobindo Bhawan since 11 p.m. on Friday.
The students on Saturday threatened to escalate their agitation if the EC meeting was not convened and they did not receive a positive response from the VC by Sunday noon.
"We have given him (VC) time till 12 noon. If no EC meeting is convened by tomorrow and we don't get any response from him we will start an indefinite hunger strike," said a protesting student.
Accusing the state government of "interfering with the autonomy of the institution time and again", the student alleged that the university authorities were "patronising" such attitude.
On the other hand, a JUTA official said they have emailed Tripathi seeking an appointment to "discuss the entire matter with him".
"In some of the departments, some teachers have announced they won't be part of the admission process. We respect their sentiment, and endorse it," the official said.
The university, rated one of the best in the country academically, plunged into turmoil after the authorities - apparently under pressure from the West Bengal government - decided to do away with the system of holding entrance tests for admission to six undergraduate courses.
In a reversal of a decision taken a week earlier, the university Executive Council in a July 4 resolution said for the coming academic year "undergraduate admission in arts should be conducted on the basis of marks obtained in the last board examination alone, without conducting any written admission test".
On June 27, the EC had declared that admission tests would be held for six departments of the humanities stream - comparative literature, history, political science, philosophy, English and Bengali - and the merit list prepared by giving equal weightage to the test and marks obtained by the students in the previous board examination.
Earlier, the university witnessed an uproar following the decision to take the services of "external experts" in preparing one of the two sets of question papers for the admission tests, and the opinion of the Advocate General that the Board of Studies has no role to play in the admission process.
The latest EC decision came against the backdrop of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on more than one occasion speaking out against the JU holding admission tests for undergraduate courses in some subjects, while admitting students on the basis of plus two results in some other courses
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B'luru: "Least priority, shifted late," says brother of patient who died in Ramaiah hospital fire
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Bengaluru: Hours after a fire broke out at the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of the MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital on New BEL Road on Thursday, a 34-year-old patient, Sujay Sujathan Panicker, tragically passed away. His family has accused the hospital authorities of negligence, which they claim led to his death.
The fire at Ramaiah Memorial Hospital is believed to have been caused by a short circuit. Initial reports suggested that there were no casualties in the incident.
Sujay, originally from Kollam in Kerala, had been residing in Bengaluru with his family since 2004. He was undergoing treatment for pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), and H1N1 since September 1 at the hospital.
Sujay's wife and father released a video accusing the hospital of negligence. In the video, his wife, Rohini Jayan, alleged that the hospital authorities took no action against those responsible for the fire.
Sujay’s brother, Sujin Sujathan Panicker, speaking to Vartha Bharathi, detailed the family’s ordeal. He said that despite his sister-in-law requesting assistance during the chaos, the hospital staff pushed her away, assuring her that all patients had been safely evacuated to the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU). However, Sujin claims that his sister-in-law did not see Sujay being shifted.
He further stated, “Sometime later, when a doctor arrived, she (Rohini) inquired about Sujay. It was only after the doctor questioned the staff that they rushed to evacuate him.”
Sujin added that by the time his brother was evacuated, 50 minutes had already passed since the fire broke out. "He was still inside, while all the other patients were taken out first. He was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness, yet he was given the least priority during the chaos. He was the last one to be evacuated."
He also claimed that Rohini had already noticed that Sujay’s condition had deteriorated and believed he had passed away, though the hospital authorities did not officially declare his death.
Sujin further stated that the hospital authorities called him and his father to the board room at the 8th floor of the hospital, where senior executives and doctors who had treated Sujay were present “During the interaction they (hospital authorities) claimed that Sujay was still alive and that his condition had worsened amid the smoke and that his chances of survival were less, which was not true.”
"Despite staff being present to evacuate my brother, they remained negligent. The fire broke out at 1:00 p.m., so why did it take 50 minutes to get him out? He was in a corner bed in the CCU, and it seemed they either overlooked the room or ignored it. Even after repeated requests, it took them 50 minutes to evacuate him," Sujin added.
Sujin also expressed concerns that the hospital authorities might attempt to influence the investigation. "They can influence anyone—any hospital, any report."
At the time of the interview, Sujin stated that neither anyone from the government nor from the health department had contacted the family.
A complaint has been filed in connection with the incident at the Sadashivanagar police station. "The statements of the family members have been recorded, and an investigation into the matter is underway. An FIR has been lodged under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Section 106 (causing death due to negligence)," said Sadashivanagar police station Sub-Inspector.
Meanwhile, officials from Ramaiah Memorial Hospital were unavailable for comment.
