Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in row over PhD scholar's admission

Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology here has courted a controversy by terminating the admission of a PhD scholar on the ground that he was still a student of the University of Hyderabad where he had done his M. Phil. However, the scholar, M.S. Harikrishnan, claimed that the University of Hyderabad had issued him a course completion certificate before he joined the research studies. In a Facebook post, Hariskrishnan lashed out at the IIST and said, “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,” the post said.

The students on the campus were agitating against the fee imposition contrary to the UGC students’ entitlement. “My participation along with other research scholars was the sole reason for the witch-hunt and my termination,” said the post. The IIST terminated him on Thursday after serving a notice stating that his “admission for the PhD programme is terminated and you should vacate the hostel and leave the campus immediately.” Earlier, on December 8 he had got a letter from the institute stating, “You are enrolled in the list of two universities at the same time, which is fraudulent according to UGC rules.”

In response to the letter, he had asked the controller of examinations, University of Hyderabad, on December 11 to provide a course completion certificate for M.Phil. He was given a certificate stating that he had completed his M.Phil course and that he was not in the rolls of the university since July 21. “I took admission in IIST for PhD on July 24 and it is very clear that I was never on the rolls of both universities at the same time,” he said.

“The termination order even states that I didn't inform the University of Hyderabadthat I had joined for PhD in IIST. The IIST administration does not know how administrative works are carried out in an educational institute. According to the logic of IIST, a student who submitted the M.Phil papers has to wait till the notification of the result for any further studies,” he said. “The mental harassment and verbal abuse in an undemocratic campus is well enough to institutionally corner any student,” the post added. The IIST authorities were unavailable for comments.