Student council polls may return on Maharashtra university campuses

MUMBAI: Campus elections, which were banned in Maharashtra, might make a comeback following a recent directive issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The UGC has issued a letter asking all universities to choose their students’ council members by way of elections, if they have not done it so far. The commission also urges universities to conduct fair and open elections on the basis of the recommendations made by the Supreme Court-appointed Lyngdoh Committee.
Mumbai University vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar said the decision on campus elections lies with the state government. In Maharashtra, all public universities, including Mumbai University, students are nominated on the basis of their merit and then the general secretary and other members are voted to the students’ council, said Mrudul Nile, director, department of students’ welfare. A senior MU official said, “This decision has to come from the state. Universities follow the process prescribed in the Maharashtra Universities’ Act. If the current process has to be changed, the state will have to amend the act.”
Campus elections were banned in Maharashtra in early 1990s following the murder of a Mithibai College student, Owen D Souza. Among the several recommendations made by the Lyngdoh Committee set up in 2006, was conducting campus elections without political interference.