Dr Vipin Srivastava of Physics department, who is currently the interim vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad Central University, was the chairman of the committee that recommended punishment for the five Dalit students including Rohith Vemula, The Indian Express reports.
Srivastava was appointed as in-charge vice-chancellor after regular vice-chancellor Professor P Appa Rao was asked to proceed on leave by the HRD Ministry on Sunday.
The university put a notice on its website saying,
The Vice-Chancellor will be on leave. In the absence of the Vice-Chancellor, Vipin Srivastava, the senior most Professor, shall perform the duties of the Vice-Chancellor wef 24-01-2016.
It did not mention the period of leave. Rao said he was “advised to be little away from campus” to break the current “impasse” in the wake of student’s agitation.
Professor P Appa Rao to PTIThere is no pressure from anybody. It is my concern for my University. We want to resolve the issue now. There is an impasse now and to break that impasse we need to have some mechanism where I am advised to be little away from campus and somebody has to be there to be in command. We have a provision to ask a senior Professor to be in-charge and that’s what we have done.
Srivastava has also been accused of harassing a Dalit student from Salem, Senthil Kumar, a research scholar at the physics department who committed suicide in 2008, the report says.
The decision to appoint him to the post has outraged protesting Dalit students and SC/ST teachers after Rohith committed suicide on January 17.
Sannaki Munna, a senior member of Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) to The Indian ExpressThis is outrageous. They have appointed Dr Vipin Srivasatava as in-charge who himself is involved in pushing the five students. We oppose this move and reject it outright.
Senior member of the SC/ST Teachers Association of University of Hyderabad, toThe Indian ExpressWe do not know for how long Professor Appa Rao will be on leave or whether he will be back on his job or not but the appointment of Dr Vipin Srivastava is even more outrageous. He was responsible for punishing the Dalit students and he has been put in-charge. Why is Union MHRD making one faux paus after another like this?
Meanwhile, the university has said the order imposing punishment on the dalit students is withdrawn.
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