Agitating students meet governor over hostel evacuation order

Students of the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, who have been protesting against an order asking them to temporarily clear out of their hostel, today met Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva and sought her intervention in the case.
Four of the 60 agitating students, the hostel warden whose services were terminated recently, and the general secretary of the NGO, People's Union for Civil Liberties, Kavita Srivastava, met the Governor and apprised her about the issue.
It was alleged that the institute management at the last moment postponed the start of the 2013 session to August 5 from the earlier July 15 and asked students to vacate their rooms till the reopening.

"The governor told the chief secretary that it was unacceptable for the students to have been thrown out of the hostel when they had paid their fees for the term," she said.
Nearly 60 students, including girls, are staging a sit-in to protest the institute's move.
Students alleged they were informed about the change in the date of the opening only on July 12, after they had arrived here from their homes.

"We've had to vacate the hostel. But we do not have a place to go, so we have to sleep in the open outside the hostel," said Kamakshi, a hosteller.

"The decision (to change the date of opening) was taken by the director of the institute deliberately as a few girl students had complained against him at the State Commission for Women in May after he entered the girls' hostel and allegedly misbehaved with a student," alleged Sumit Sharma, a 5th semester student.
The institute is run with the state government under the PPP model.
No official from the institute was available for comment.