Vet students protest re-counselling

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 20

Students pursuing Bachelors of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (BVSc&AH) from College of Veterinary Science, Rampura Phul, staged a protest outside the Vice Chancellor’s office of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) today, against the call on re-counselling given by the university.

Students raised slogans against university authorities and said they would not let re-counselling happen and give the university any chance to play with their careers.

Jatin, a student of BVSc&H at the college, said: “A total of 80 students secured admission to College of Veterinary Science, Rampura Phul, after a counselling session on September 30, 2019. This date was announced at the eleventh hour as the university had received the No Objection Certificate from the Veterinary Council of India at 4:30 pm on the same day. Owing to this, the counselling began at 9 pm and continued till 12 am. Since September 30 was the last date, GADVASU held the counselling and gave admission according to merit.”

After the counselling, 35 students from Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Amritsar, filed a writ against GADVASU for conducting last-minute counselling. In the writ, the students stated that they had already taken admission by paying hefty fees as GADVASU was not holding the counselling but had they known that the counselling would be done at the last hour, they could have waited. Acting on the writ, the High Court asked GADVASU to adjust those students who could not attend the counselling for the Rampura Phul college.

“Now, the university has again released January 23 as the counselling date. How can the university conduct re-counselling when earlier the counselling could not delayed even for a few hours and had to be done at night? The court has asked to either adjust students, who missed their chance, or decrease their fees. But the university, by itself, has decided to conduct re-counselling, which is not fair,” Jatin added.

Muskaan Modgill, another student, said: “The classes commenced on October 9 and we have already cleared our first internal. The university cannot tell us to secure admission to another college in between semesters. No college will give us admission.”

Manpreet Singh, student at the college, said they had secured admission on merit after the counselling. “The counselling call was made at the last hour and that is not our fault. It will not be acceptable to us if we are asked to shift to another college mid-semester,” he said.

Students continued their protest till evening. They were seen siting in blankets outside the VC office. “We will not go until the re-counselling is cancelled. The university cannot play with our careers according to their whims and fancies,” said a student. Students also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in the evening.

Sushil Prabhakar, Registrar, GADVASU, when contacted, said the university would be taking further actions according to the decision of the Court, for which re-shuffling would be done.

Why re-counselling?

The counselling for admission in Bachelors of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (BVSc&AH) to College of Veterinary Science, Rampura Phul, was held on September 30. This date was announced at the eleventh hour as the university had received the No Objection Certificate from the Veterinary Council of India at 4:30 pm the same day. Owing to this, the counselling began at 9 pm and continued till 12 midnight. Since September 30 was the last date, GADVASU had to hold the counselling. After the counselling, 35 students from Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Amritsar, filed a writ against GADVASU for conducting last-minute counselling. In the writ, the students stated that they had already taken admission by paying hefty fees as GADVASU was not holding the counselling but had they known that the counselling would be done at the last hour, they could have waited. Acting on the writ, the High Court asked GADVASU to adjust those students who could not attend the counselling for the Rampura Phul college.