Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle's ex-secretary's admission at University of Madras revoked

Chennai: Some students of the University of Madras on Thursday protested against the revocation of admission offered to a student allegedly for "organising protests" in his capacity as secretary of Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a student group, during a course he pursued at the university previously.

The Vice-Chancellor P Duraisamy, Registrar R Srinivasan and Head of the Department of Philosophy M Venkatachalapathy could not be reached for comments.

The student Kirubamohan T, currently pursuing a course in MA Buddhism at the University, said the administration cited "non-possession of eligibility certificate" as the reason for revocation of admission.

He said it has been a month since he started attending classes. "But my HOD told the administration had problem with my association with Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle and for organising protests during my previous course, MA Journalism, from which I graduated in 2018," he told PTI.

During admission, he said he was informed that an eligibility certificate would not be necessary as he had been a student of the university. Terming it a "flimsy" reason, a political science student and member of APSC Valarmathi, who took part in the protest, said there were many students who continued attending courses without the eligibility certificate.

"This is an attempt to gag voices of politically-active students on the campus," she said. DMK President M K Stalin condemned the move saying "The party condemns such acts that are intended to crush freedom of expression and right to an education that are in accordance with the Indian constitution." Kirubamohan said he has sought the intervention of Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K P Anbalagan and Principal Secretary Mangat Ram Sharma into the issue.