Calcutta High Court asks State to set up anti-ragging committees in colleges, ensure student union elections

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the West Bengal government to immediately constitute anti-ragging Committees in colleges across the State..The Court has also ordered the State to immediately ensure the conduct of student union elections in all the universities across the State. .A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya issued these directives after it was informed that the guidelines recommended by the RK Raghavan Committee to curb ragging in colleges have not been implemented in the State yet..The guidelines, which were issued in 2009, were even validated by the Supreme Court. Therefore, the bench ordered the State to implement the same. ."The grievance in the instant PIL is that the State is yet to implement the recommendations made by the Raghavan Committee. Be that as it may, we direct the State to forthwith constitute Anti-Ragging Committees in all the educational institutions. The State is further ordered to immediately conduct Students' Union elections in all the universities," the Court ordered before adjourning the matter till September 19..Meanwhile, the bench also heard a separate batch of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions highlighting the 'state of affairs' at Jadavpur University that led to the suicide of a first-year BA student after he was allegedly subjected to ragging by his seniors.The bench had earlier expressed that it wished to hear the student unions of the varsity on the issue, as there were various allegations made against them. However, on Tuesday, the bench was told that most of the student unions were defunct as their office bearers (elected students) had graduated.Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the judges that despite the unions being defunct, their office bearers were continuing to make statements in the media about the affairs of the university. Hearing this, the bench ordered such graduated students to refrain from speaking about Jadavpur University and its affairs. "Only the existing students can speak their grievances, if any," the Chief Justice observed. The bench further ordered Jadavpur University to conduct a thorough "room-to-room" inspection of all its hostels to ensure that no ex-student continues to live there.This direction was in view of allegations that former students continued to live in the hostels and rag their juniors at the University. "You will have to give them a 24 hours time to vacate the rooms, if they are found living there," the bench ordered. The matter will be heard next on September 26.