On Wednesday, the Meghalaya High Court warned to intervene if the situation at North Eastern Hill University, where students have been participating in a nine-day hunger strike, is not resolved by authorities. Judge B Bhattacharjee and Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukherji set November 20 as the deadline for the Central government to take action. Student union-led protests calling for the dismissal of Vice Chancellor PS Shukla and other senior officials have placed the campus under complete lockdown.
The court recognized that in order to solve the “acute problems” that the university was confronting, the state government had already made suggestions to central authorities. The bench allowed more time for settlement because NEHU is under central authority. Despite the worsening conditions on campus, student organizations such as the Khasi Students’ Union and the North Eastern Hill University Students’ Union have continued their prolonged hunger strike. All parties involved, including the vice chancellor, state and federal governments, and different university unions, must be informed of the court’s mandate. Earlier, lawyer P. Yobin had asked the court to step in and help the university resume its regular operations.
