KOCHI: Cochin University of Science and Technology witnessed unusual scenes on Monday evening with the vice-chancellor Dr J. Letha sitting on a ‘dharna’ to evict the legal and illegal occupants of its Sanathanam men’s hostel which was allegedly being made a forte by the SFI for nearly two decades.
The vice-chancellor finally scored a victory after the occupants agreed to go out while the legal ones were accommodated in Sarovaram and Siberia hostels.
A large contingent of forces comprising around 100 policemen too had arrived on the scene in case to intervene if the situation went out of hand.
An eviction attempt earlier had failed with the then registrar facing bruises in an alleged assault by the occupants.
“Nobody had any idea what was happening in the hostel all these days. It was a deserted place ideal for unlawful activities,” said a Cusat official.
Interestingly after the forceful intervention of Dr Letha, the inmates of the hostel had agreed to move out so as to accommodate the newcomers in the hostel by last Friday.
However, this did not happen and when the department heads of the university led by the registrar David Peter went to the hostel to evict them on Monday, they locked the premises and did not allow them in. At this time, the VC was away attending a function outside.
By around 4 pm, she arrived on the scene and took a chair and sat there saying that she will not leave the place until the students vacated the rooms. This landed around 200 inmates belonging to 90 rooms in a dilemma.
Later she agreed to hold talks with their representatives on the spot and assured that all legitimate demands would be met.
Finally, the students left the rooms with some of their belongings while the rest were kept safely in four-five rooms at the hostel.
The newcomers too occupied their rooms. The VC left the scene at sundown when the proceedings completed.
