CISF writes MHA on deployment of contingent on Viswa-Bharati campus

The CISF has written to the Home Ministry seeking directions on a request from the Visva-Bharati University to deploy a contingent of the paramilitary force on its campus in Shantiniketan.

Currently, no central university has police personnel or a paramilitary force stationed permanently on campus.

The varsity's vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty had recently written to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) alleging that private security personnel employed by the university owe their allegiance to "TMC local bosses".

The letter was also marked to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, which has forwarded it to the paramilitary force.

In its reply to Visva-Bharati, the CISF detailed its procedure for deploying a contingent, including conducting required checks and surveys.

"The CISF has written to the university telling them about the procedure followed before the force is deployed. The force has also forwarded the request to us to seek further directions in this regard," a home ministry source said.

The vice-chancellor had cited incidents of confrontation between the university administration, students and staff, in his letter to request for CISF deployment on the campus.

"The private security personnel currently employed by the university owe their allegiance to the TMC local bosses and, hence, disobey Visva-Bharati's security officer with impunity.

"There have been instances of students staging protest and preventing faculty members and officials from leaving the campus when the security guards remained silent onlookers and even created enabling conditions for the protesters," the letter by Chakrabarty had said.

Visva Bharati is not the only university to have made such request. In 2017, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) had written to the HRD Ministry after protests on its campus turned violent.

While the BHU vice-chancellor was sent on indefinite leave, the request for CISF deployment was not taken up further.

The BHU matter did not reach a conclusion as the home ministry gave no directions to the force, sources said.

The CISF guards vital installations in the country, including the Delhi Metro, 61 civil airports and organisations in the aerospace and nuclear domain.

It was tasked to extend its armed security cover, exclusively from the existing government sector deployment, to private installations after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which Pakistan-based terrorists targeted five-star hotels and other locations killing over 166 people.

Currently, 10 installations in the private sector are guarded by the 1.50-lakh personnel strength force that includes Infosys campuses in Bengaluru, Pune and Mysuru and the Reliance refinery in Jamnagar among others.