Army Law College Pune students protest arbitrary policy changes, demand removal of Principal

Students of Army Law College (ALC), Pune have been protesting against the administration since Friday last week, citing multiple grievances including last-minute timetable changes, dissolution of the student council, shortage of qualified faculty and poor hostel conditions.

The student community has submitted demands including the replacement of the Principal and Registrar, reinstatement of the Student Council, formation of a neutral grievance redressal committee and financial transparency.

The students said that faculty are assigned to teach subjects without having the requisite specialisation. Sudden changes in the academic timetable have caused overlapping of classes and loss of lectures. Hostels are overcrowded with four people occupying a triple-sharing room, the students claim. When they tried to raise the issue, the Registrar asked them to leave the hostel, they alleged.

The Student Council was dissolved by the Principal when it tried to communicate with the previous Chairman.

"When we lawfully asked our administration during roll call that we want to meet our chairman to resolve our disputes it was communicated by the administration that “the chairman is not free for your reasons he has other important things to do”."

A letter addressed to the Chairman, ALC Pune alleges that the situation has deteriorated since the appointment of the current administrative heads.

"We enrolled at Army Law College with immense faith in the values of the Indian Army discipline, integrity, leadership, and fairness. Under the previous leadership of Col AK Pandey (Registrar) and Mr Ganesh Deshmane (Principal-in-Charge), those values were upheld. The atmosphere was structured, respectful, and student friendly. However, since the appointment of Dr Madhushree Joshi as Principal and Col Suneel Mann as Registrar, the college environment has become increasingly hostile, unprofessional, and oppressive."

The students allege that the administration had called the police to campus on Friday, fearing that the protest would become disruptive and result in vandalism. Of the 377 protesting students, 300 have been threatened that an FIR would be lodged against them, they claim.

Repeated emails to the administration and attempts to meet with the Chairman, ALC Pune have fallen on deaf ears, the students claim, adding that they went on protest as a last resort for their grievances to be heard.

As per a report, Principal Dr Madhushree Joshi has stated that the unrest has been caused by a 'few motivated students' and that the ALC office is always open for discussion.

[Read ALC Pune Students Grievance Letter]