Thiruvananthapuram: The agitation of student unions before the Kerala Law Academy received a moral boost on Wednesday with senior leaders including Administration Reforms Commission chairman V. S. Achuthanandan, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran and IUML leader P. K. Kunhalikutty making a beeline for the venue.
Mr Achuthanandan demanded the state government take back the land leased out to the college. He said their demands were genuine and wanted a resolution to the ongoing agitation.
Mr Sudheeran after visiting the protesters demanded that the government should take over the college after withdrawing its affiliation while Mr Kunhalikutty said the students were denied all kinds of freedom on the campus. The management should accept their demands.
Former BJP state president V. Muraleedharan, meanwhile, began a 48-hour hunger strike there demanding its takeover by the government.
BJP national secretary P. Muralidhar Rao who inaugurated the hunger strike alleged that the CPM government had an unholy nexus with the self-financing colleges where Dalit communities are subjected to harassment.
The march conducted by the AISF to the Secretariat turned violent forcing the police to use water cannons. The dispersed activists returned and squatted on the road.
Meanwhile, Mr Achuthanandan's former personal staff member K.M. Shajahan has lodged a petition with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau alleging irregularity in construction of a complex by Kerala Law Academy Law College.
He alleged that a commercial complex was constructed at 34.5 cent land at Statue that was purchased in 1973 for the Law Academy Society. This was a violation of the society's objectives, he alleged.
Education minister fails to end stir at Law Academy
Education minister C. Raveendranath has assured the representatives of students to take action against the Kerala Law Academy Law College after receiving the report of the Kerala University.
However, the meeting could not arrive at a consensus as the agitating students took a stand that they would withdraw only after Lakshmy Nair stepped down as principal. The management, armed with a verdict for police protection from the high court, could not commence its classes on Wednesday as announced earlier because none of the students turned up.
Leaders of the SFI, KSU, AISF and MSF attended the meeting convened by the minister, which the ABVP boycotted. Mr Raveendranath however, said he could not take a decision on the removal of the principal without discussing with its management. He pointed out that it was a private college.
SFI state president Jaick C. Thomas who termed the discussions as positive said his organisation would go ahead with the agitation till the principal resigned.
