BHU students call off stir; will boycott classes, exam

VARANASI: The students of BHU's faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharm Vigyan (SVDV) on Friday afternoon called off their 16-day-long sit-in stir against appointment of Dr Firoz Khan as an assistant professor in the 'Sahitya' department of the faculty after talks with the varsity administration.
However, the students have decided to continue the boycott of classes and semester examination and threatened to resume and intensify their stir if the university administration failed to give a satisfactory reply of their queries regarding the appointment in 10 days.
Their leader Chakrapani Ojha said, "We have called off our dharna but will continue to agitate till the issue of Dr Khan's appointment is resolved. The university administration has sought 10 days to reply to our queries. We will launch an intensified agitation if they (administration) fail to do so."
"In the meantime, we will continue to boycott the classes and semester examination as a mark of their protest," he added.
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On Friday, the BHU administration released a press statement declaring end of the dharna. “The students staging a sit-in outside V-C residence against the appointment of Dr Firoz Khan as an assistant professor in in Sahitya department of SVDV faculty since November 7 have ended their dharna,” BHU PRO Rajesh Singh said in the release.
The university administration hopes students will cooperate in maintaining the academic atmosphere in BHU in wake of the ensuing semester examinations.
Earlier, the BHU administration had also released a press statement on Thursday night claiming that the students agreed to call-off their stir.
According BHU spokesperson, the university administration had held several rounds of talks with the agitating students since Wednesday, after which the faculty reopened on Thursday. Vice-chancellor Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar, dean Prof Vindhyeswari Prasad Mishra, heads of departments, senior teachers and university officials were also present during the meeting.
The students had handed over a memorandum containing several questions addressed to the university administration. Chief proctor OP Rai and the head of the department assured to respond to the questions within 10 days.
The students in their memorandum had sought information about the process of shortlisting of candidates and whether the process in the Sahitya department was similar to that of other departments of SVDV faculty, whether the shortlisting was done in view of the traditional (Sanatan Dharma) rules, which rule of UGC was adopted in shortlisting process and whether the appointment was done in accordance with the BHU Act or not.
Meanwhile, the faculty teachers were busy in preparation of semester examination likely to start from December 2. Students were also seen in the faculty office, inquiring about the examination and classes. The dean said that the semester examinations are likely to begin from December 2, though the date may change.