IIT Kharagpur will fine students found drinking on or outside the campus, a notice issued by the registrar of the institute on Monday said.
The institute has decided to impose graded fines based on the degree of the offence.
A notice signed by registrar Amit Jain says a student found drinking on the campus for the first time will be fined Rs 5,000.
“If a student is found guilty of the same offence for the second time, then the fine will be enhanced to Rs 10,000. In both cases, the parents would be warned by the warden,” says the notice.
“If a student is found to be engaged in alcohol consumption more than twice, then the case will be directly dealt by the DC (disciplinary committee) and then the DC will recommend appropriate measure,” the notice says.
Fines will also be imposed on students if they are found drinking outside the campus or engaged in scuffles with outsiders.
For the first offence in this category, a student will be fined Rs 25,000. Parents of the errant students will have to meet the dean of students in-person and sigh a declaration that such violations will not be repeated.
“If the student is still found to be engaged in a similar act, then the case would be directly referred to the DC. The DC will recommend appropriate punishment, which may include academic punishment and a minimum financial penalty of Rs 50,000,” the notice says.
An official at the institute said they took the decisions following increasing instances of misconduct by students.
The decision has, however, triggered anguish among a section of students.
Awaaz, IIT Kharagpur, the student media body on the campus, said in a Facebook post: “While we all agree that Alcohol is harmful to health, an interesting point to be noted is that the Institute’s Administration has also penalised alcohol intake outside the campus, which begs the question if this falls under their purview, considering a significant portion of students is legally adult.”