VC goes on leave, Dalit groups allege ‘interim VC’ also tainted

Under attack over Rohith Vemula’s suicide, Hyderabad University Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile on Sunday went on indefinite leave but it sparked more protests as Dalit faculty members alleged that the professor given interim charge too had “deep involvement” in the case and in the death of another student from the community. 

A day after the students sitting on a hunger strike were hospitalised, a fresh batch of seven students on Sunday resumed the strike to press their demands, including sacking of Podile who has been named in the FIR on charges of abetment of suicide and and under relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in connection with Rohith’s case. 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. When contacted, Podile said he was “advised to be little away from campus” to break the current “impasse” in the wake of student’s agitation.

“There 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,” he explained. Asked whether he would take charge once normalcy returns in the university, he replied in the affirmative. However, the SC/ST faculty forum and SC/ST officers forum expressed “shock” over the decision to appoint Srivastava as officiating Vice-Chancellor and said it was disappointed that Podile was not dismissed. They alleged that Srivastava was one of the “accused” in the suicide of another Dalit student, Senthil, in 2008.