DK Dist Administration Issues Notices To Both Colleges Over Burqa Ban

21 August 2009

The district administration has issued notices to S V S College , Bantwal and Government First Grade College , Uppinangady, to explain their stand on the controversial ban on burqas in the campuses. Once the district administration receives the reports , it will await the decision of the state government and the Department of Collegiate Education. The administration, based on representations from aggrieved students represented the issue to DC V Ponnuraj, who in turn issued notices to the institutions to explain their stand. Observing that neither Mangalore University to which these institutions S V S College, Bantwal and Government First Grade College, Uppinangady are affiliated to, nor the administration has any powers per se to intervene in the issue, Ponnuraj said: We will go through their replies and send it to the state government , who can then take a decision on it. The University has delegated all disciplinary powers to the colleges, he said.
The institutions, the DC asserted, should tell the students beforehand about the terms and conditions governing their admission. The aim of issuing the notices is to find out under what provisions have they taken a decision to deny students like Aysha Asmin at Bantwal and others in Uppinangady from wearing a headscarf, he said. The government must take a call on this sensitive issue that is more social in nature. Not conceding that this was a socio-political issue in light of suggestions that groups from two major communities were keeping the issue alive, Ponnuraj reiterated that it is more social in nature. It is for society to collectively decide on such issues rather than for groups to dictate terms, he said adding that if managements of the two institutions apprehend danger from these groups, they can turn to the police for help. The question of faith should be left to individuals, and not become a subject matter of some rules and regulations, the DC said.
source times of india