Fast for Rs 450

A disabled DU student was overcharged the amount for an LLB form even though he belongs to the reserved category

Fast for Rs 450

A disabled DU student was overcharged the amount for an LLB form even though he belongs to the reserved category

Twenty-year-old physically disabled student of Ram Lal Anand (RLA) College (Delhi University) decided to go the Anna Hazare way after he was charged for an LLB form the cost that was actually meant for students of general category.

Fast result: Manoj Kumar, a BA final year student at Ram Lal Anand
College, plans to go for post graduation in Law. Pic/Mid Day

He refused to pay for he belonged to disabled category and sat on a hunger strike outside the vice-chancellor's office protesting the discrimination. On Tuesday, his efforts bore fruit with university assuring him that things will be set right.

Pay or perish
The student Manoj Kumar is studying in BA final year and had planned to go for post graduation in Law. The Faculty of Law has released the admission forms for LLB course and Kumar claims that these forms cost Rs 250 for the students belonging to Handicap, ST/ SC categories as mentioned in the rule book of the Executive Council (EC). Instead, he was offered the form for Rs 700, which is the price for general category students.

Kumar said when he pointed out the cost of the form to the officials at the Law Faculty, they rebuffed him. "I told the officials that the forms for handicap studentsu00a0 were priced at Rs 250 but they told me that they will sell it for Rs 700 only, and declared that it was my choice if I wanted to take it or not," said Kumar.

He then went to meet the Dean of Law Faculty but received the same response. "I was told by the Dean that it's their job to fix the price of the forms and students have no right to inquire about it," said Kumar.

Fight for rights
After that Kumar sat outside the office of the V-C on a hunger strike the entire Monday and late in the night.
On Tuesday, he was asked by the faculty officials to call off the strike. However, Kumar and the students supporting him said that the issue was not about money but their rights. "It is a matter of our rights. When the price is already mentioned in the university rule book, why is it difficult for administration to implement that?" said Priya Dabas, vice-president, Delhi University Students' Union. The students' body then filed a complaint with the V-C, Registrar and Dean, Student Welfare.

From the faculty
The V-C, Prof Dinesh Singh, then called Kumar in person to address the issue. "We are taking the matter seriously. By next Monday a notice will be pasted in the Law Faculty that the LLB forms be sold for Rs 250 only for handicapped students," said Singh. The faculty will also refund the money of those students under handicap category who had bought the forms for Rs 700. "I am happy that my protest has helped so many other students like me," said Kumar.

Support for anna
Delhi University students had extended full support to social activist Anna Hazare against corruption. The students from various colleges had sat on a fast at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi along with the social activist during his protest.
"Corruption is the worst enemy of growth in our country. We have held a number of all-India protests against the evil of corruption recently. It is high time things change," said Jitender Chaudhry, president DUSU.

The Other Side
When MiD DAY contacted Gurdip Singh, Dean, Faculty of Law, his phone was answered by his wife who said that Singh had no time to answer such queries.