HC: Conduct internal probe to find out availability of drugs in edu institutions
Chennai: The Madras high court has directed the DGP to issue circulars to educational institutions, especially the engineering colleges, medical colleges, law college and management schools, asking them to conduct internal probe/inquiry, jointly by the district administration and the institutions, to find out the availability of drugs and other contraband goods in the institutions and take remedial measures and report to the police, so that the culprits can be brought to book.
“Only if stringent action is taken against those students, who are consuming these contraband items, it will send a message to the rest of the students and deter them from consuming such addictive items”, said Justice N. Kirubakaran while giving the above directive.
The judge posted to the second week of January, further hearing of the petition from M/s Studio 11, which sought a direction to the police to take steps against the persons who smoke in public places.
The judge said in spite of the directions given by this court, no information was available as to how many educational institutions have been raided to find out whether ganja or prohibited contraband items were consumed or used by the students in the educational institutions.
Globally acclaimed elite IIT-Kanpur was battling a serious drug problem. The administration decided to spread awareness to hold counselling sessions to check the menace.
The inquiry also revealed that the drug peddlers were targeting the students, it was reported in the media in the first week of December, the judge added.
The judge said when such was the position of the premier institutions like IIT-Kanpur, the position of the educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai has to be introspected.
The management themselves should come forward to conduct an internal enquiry to find out the use of any drugs and other contraband items on the campus.
The educational institutions should not ignore this issue as it will play havoc in the lives of the students, the judge added.
The judge said the authorities will have to furnish the necessary particulars positively on the next hearing date.
