IIT-Madras to call students emergency meet

Chennai: The beleaguered IIT-Madras, currently in the eye of a storm over de-recognition of Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC), on Tuesday decided to convene an emergency meeting of the board of students (BoS) in the next couple of days to discuss the list of demands put forth by the members of the student group. Earlier in the day, a team of APSC representatives met the director in-charge and presented a list of demands, including an unconditional apology from the dean (students) for misusing official power and the primary call to grant recognition again to their group.

The group claimed that the move to de-recognise their study circle was arbitrary, as it was done without seeking clarification from them nor was the decision empowered by the BoS.Among other demands were calls for the institute to officially recognise all independent student bodies and further allow students to express their social, economic and political views.

“We have also asked the institute to provide equal privileges like space, IIT-M official mail account and IIT-M official domain for all independent student bodies,” an APSC member said. The protest by more than 100 members of the Revolutionary Students Youth Forum (RYSF) and other Left-wing groups led to a traffic jam, lasting more than half-an-hour, on Sardar Patel road.