The state higher education department has set up a committee to identify the administrative lapses and the infrastructure gaps at Jadavpur University.
The committee will have a vice-chairperson of the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education, special commissioner (university branch) of the higher education department, director of public instruction and member secretary of the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education as members.
The member secretary of the higher education council will be convener of the committee.
“The competent authority… has taken a serious note on the unfortunate death of a first-year undergraduate student… due to alleged ragging which is under investigation.... It has also come to the notice of the state government about certain administrative lapses and the infrastructure gap in Jadavpur University,” an order
issued by the higher education department on Thursday said.
“In order to identify the same and to ensure corrective measures, the department has constituted a fact-finding committee,” it said.
The committee will submit its report to the department within two weeks.
An official of the department said the death of the 17-year-old boy, who was allegedly ragged and thrown from a second-floor balcony of JU Main Hostel, has exposed the fact that the university had not kept freshers in a hostel where seniors were denied entry.
The UGC’s anti-ragging norms, issued in 2009, call for segregation of first-year students in hostel.
“It has come to our notice that the hostel where the deceased student stayed had no CCTV cameras. Police sought footage of CCTV cameras of the hostel to determine whether the first-year student had been ragged. The university could not provide the footage. These are glaring lapses,” the official said.
“Also, the university does not have a full-time superintendent in any of the hostels.”
How could the committee help in addressing the deficiencies?
The official said the committee would like to know from JU what steps it is taking to segregate first-year students in hostel.
“If they want financial assistance for building a separate hostel and the installation of CCTV cameras, they can let us know. We would like to know whether the anti-ragging committee is working properly. The student’s death has laid bare systematic flaws which have to be corrected,” he said.