The UGC has said Jadavpur University’s report following the death of a first-year student last week mostly mentioned the “reactive approaches adopted in the matter rather than proactive measures taken to curb the menace of ragging”, sources in the university said.
Manish R. Joshi, secretary of the UGC, has sent an email to JU registrar Snehamanju Basu saying the commission is “not satisfied” with the response submitted by the university.
Registrar Basu had sent the response on August 14 following a communication from the UGC.
The UGC has asked the university to send a fresh response in regard to a set of queries.
The queries are:
In case the applicant desires to stay in the hostel or private hostel, does the institution take an additional affidavit signed by the applicant and countersigned by the parent/guardian?
An additional affidavit signed by the deceased student and countersigned by his parents to stay in the hostel.
Are the freshers lodged in a separate hostel block and is the access of seniors to this block being monitored?
Do you conduct any survey amongst the freshers every fortnight during the first three months of the academic session to verify incidents of ragging?
Does your institute get a copy of the affidavit signed by the applicant wherein it is clearly mentioned that he or she understands the provisions of the regulations (UGC regulations) and punishments prescribed?
Are the telephone numbers of the anti-ragging helpline and the important functionaries of the institute to curb ragging printed on the brochure of your admission/instruction booklet in print/electronic form?
Before the commencement of the academic session,
did the head of the institute convene a meeting of the faculty members, warden,
student representatives, parents, district administration and police representatives
to discuss measures to be taken to prevent ragging
and steps to be taken to identify the guilty and punish
them?
The university has been asked to send its replies to the queries for the current year as well as the last five years. The report for the current has to be sent by Thursday and for the last five years within 10 days of the date of the receipt of the letter.
“If no specific reply is received within the aforesaid period, it shall be presumed that if you have nothing to say in the matter and appropriate decision/action shall be taken...” says the letter signed by the UGC secretary.
Registrar Basu told The Telegraph on Thursday evening that the report for the current year has been sent to the UGC.
When asked about the UGC’s statement that it is “not satisfied” with JU’s response, Basu said: “I don’t want to comment on this.”
UGC secretary Joshi’s letter to the JU registrar says: “In this connection, the report submitted to UGC.... was found to be very generic in nature basically mentioning therein mostly the reactive approaches adopted in the matter rather than proactive measures to curb the menace of ragging and therefore the commission is not satisfied with the report submitted by you.”
The report that was sent to the UGC on August 14 did not contain the report of the university’s internal committee, which was constituted to probe the death of the first-year undergraduate student.
“The report of the internal committee could not be sent with the preliminary
report because the 11-member internal committee, which is in the process of taking
deposition from all concerned, has yet to prepare the report. Once we get the report, it will be sent to the UGC,” a Jadavpur University official said on Tuesday.