Under attack for idefinitely closing the Lucknow University citing lawlessness, Vice-Chancellor R P Singh on Friday received a shot in the arm with the Allahabad high court virtually vindicating his decision, even as the government, in an attempt to turn the heat on Singh, decided to initiate an inquiry into alleged irregularities by him.
Almost all members of the state assembly had slammed Singh for his decision to idefinitely close the varsity and order the students to vacate the hostels and had authorised Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to take necessary steps to restore academic activities.
While Mulayam Singh went to the extent of branding Singh as a "dictator", the latter cracked the whip by suspending as many as 135 students with "criminal background", most of them allegedly supporters of ruling Samajwadi Party.
The administration, which was charged by the VC with not cooperating with the varsity authorities in getting the hostels vacated, had even withdrawn the added security on the campus after the closure of the varsity.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation seeking direction to make available the forces for getting the hostels vacated, virtually vindicated the VC's decision.
It appears from media reports that an atmosphere of lawlessness has been prevailing in the campus for the past one week, a Division Bench of the court comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice Ajai Kumar Singh observed.
"We can not ignore the newspaper and electronic media reports and live coverage of the violence in the campus," the Bench said when the government counsel submitted that there was no violence.
