The Sudden termination of student from IIST
“My research career is prematurely murdered and I feel Numb. The IIST wanted to set an example for all students by terminating me on baseless grounds. The simplest way to slaughter all dissenting voices,” Hari Krishnan
Hari Krishnan is a student of PhD in Development Economics at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST). As of today, his admission at IIST stands terminated owing to a termination letter sent to him on December 14, 2017.
Hari passed out from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in July 21, 2017. After this, he took admission in IIST on July 24, 2017. On December 8, 2017, Hari received a memorandum from IIST stating that he is enrolled in the list of two universities at the same time, which is fraudulent according to UGC rules.
In response to the memorandum, Hari requested the Controller of Examination, University of Hyderabad (UoH) to provide a course completion certificate for the M.Phil course that he pursued from there. The Controller of Examination issued his course completion certificate which specified that he completed his M.phil course and had submitted his no dues certificate and was not in the rolls of University of Hyderabad since 21-07-2017 (see the document below).
Despite submitting the letter, on December 14, 2017 he was served a notice from IIST which stated that his ‘admission for the PhD programme is terminated and that he should vacate the hostel and leave the campus immediately’.
From the document issued by the HCU it became clear that Hari was never on the rolls of both institutes simultaneously. Rather, had joined IIST only after the completion of his MPhil programme in Economics.
Why Is Hari Being Hounded?
It appears that Hari’s participation in two year long protests at UoH may have led to the sudden termination order. The result of this will be the invalidation of his Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and the stigma of indiscipline.
It is also worth noting here that while at UoH, Hari Krishnan was the Secretary of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) during the time the agitations for Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder were going on.
Background
In view of the termination, several other issues going on in the campus become important. In an order issued in January 2017, the institute notified the students that then onwards, they will start charging the students with Academic fees of about Rs. 12,000 per semester. It is pertinent to mention here that many students were in the middle of their courses when this order was issued. These students joined the institute with the knowledge that their studies were funded entirely by the institute. However, this sudden declaration by the administration that even the current students already studying in the institute have to pay fees, made the future of hundreds of students studying in the institute uncertain. As per the UGC guidelines, the entire fees structure of any institute needs to be mentioned in the prospectus when the students join courses. Hence, by default the order could be considered invalid.
Several research scholars protested this move of the administration and in various letters to authorities contested the validity of such an order. This was going on since September, when the administration showed a firm resolve to increase the fees. Hari too, along with other students participated in the processes that students had initiated to call off this sudden imposition.
Could it be possible then, that a students’ agitations at IIST against imposition of fees mid-semester intimidated its administration so much that they have now resorted tosingle out students and witch-hunt them? This trend of finishing off dissent from its most radical source-the students and the youth is nothing but an Indian brand of crass McCarthyism.
However, Hari is not the one to give up. He says, “They want to create a situation in which there are no students who dare to question the administration in the future. The targeting is mainly aimed towards that. I am going to fight a legal battle against my termination”
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