Students lock out officials of law varsity NSURL in Ranchi, allege fund misappropriation

Ranchi The National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi, was in a virtual lockdown as students closed the main gate of the varsity on Wednesday to protest against alleged anomalies and misappropriation of funds.

They refused to let any varsity authority enter the university premises and sought to share their concerns only with the chief minister, the chief justice of Jharkhand or the governor.

The students alleged that the promises made by the authorities concerned during their last protest in April were not fulfilled, and the varsity administration was unwilling to take any initiative to help them (students).

The varsity, they alleged, also issued show cause notices to six students, including four in their final year, threatening to rusticate them if they did not end their protest. The final year students only have four months of their course remaining.

NUSRL’s assistant registrar in-charge MRS Murty, however, said that the varsity was continuously working to meet the demands of the students, but the students were acting impatient.

“We have issued tender notices and work orders for road construction and other works related to the infrastructure development. The students fail to understand that their demands cannot be fulfilled overnight,” said Murty.

Meanwhile, the fear of being rusticated at the fag end of their course has gripped many students involved in the protest. None of them was willing to be named by the media.

Requesting anonymity, a final year student said, “The vice chancellor has openly threatened to ruin our careers if we do not end our protest. We have security forces deployed outside the campus and the authorities have threatened to get us lathi-charged.”

VC Gautam Chaudhary said he was unaware of the circumstances which led to the protests.

“I am not in Ranchi. Let me return and talk to the students, only then I will be able to comment,” he said.

Judicial Academy director Chaudhary was on April 10 appointed as the acting vice chancellor cum registrar of NUSRL following protests by students demanding an administrative overhaul. The students had also locked up the main gate of the varsity in April demanding immediate suspension of the then vice chancellor BC Nirmal.

The students had demanded audit of all financial records of the varsity by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and recruitment of permanent teachers.

They claimed that the university received more than Rs 10 crore from its 565 students as annual fees. However, it was not in the habit of releasing its audit reports for perusal of students and others concerned, they said. Each student here pays an annual fee of about Rs 1,90,000.

NUSRL was established by Act 4 of Jharkhand State Assembly in 2010 and recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in September 2011.