Hyderabad: The students of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) have demanded elections for the student union after the university got involved in a land dispute with the state government, which had sought to resume 50 acre of the institution’s land.
Students have said that the situation would not have escalated had a representative body been in place to engage with authorities on the issue early on. They said that no elections were held last year and that half of the current session has passed without a student body in place.
“If a students’ union had existed, students would not have had to protest this way. There would have been a formal platform to question decisions and protect university interests,” a student leader, Talha Mannan, was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.
They credited the withdrawal of the government notice to sustained student resistance and described the whole episode as a failure of campus democracy.
They have asked the Vice-Chancellor to immediately issue a notification for the elections and warned of an agitation in case of further delay.
MANUU land row
The Rangareddy district collector had issued a show cause notice to the university in December last year, seeking the resumption of 50 acre of unutilised land out of the 150 acre originally allotted to the university.
MANUU was given a week to respond. The notice triggered protests from the students and criticism from the Opposition parties who likened the situation to that of Kancha Gachibowli land.
Amid all this, the government maintained that the notice was issued as part of a regular audit exercise and was to make sure that the land is used effectively for the betterment of students.
Telangana Minorities Minister Mohammad Azharuddin, on Friday, January 9, clarified that the government does not intend to take the university’s land. He said that after the university explained the future plans for the land, the notice was dropped by the collector.
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