Chandigarh, July 17 (IANS) In order to curb incidents of ragging in colleges, the administration of the union territory of Chandigarh has decided to come down hard on the guilty by strictly adhering to the guidelines of the Supreme Court and University Grants Commission (UGC).
“Ragging in any form is a serious offence. To make our educational institutions ragging-free, we have directed all of them to issue advertisements and to paste posters displaying anti-ragging helplines,” home secretary Ram Niwas told reporters here Friday.

“We have told them to appoint special anti-ragging officers and to constitute surprise inspection teams and night inspection teams,” he added.

In this regard, Niwas also held a meeting with senior police officials, director of higher education and representatives from Panjab University (PU) and Punjab Engineering College (PEC) Thursday evening. Most colleges here are starting their academic year between July 15 and 20.

He stated that all the educational institutions here will follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court and UGC, which have banned any form of ragging inside or outside the premises of universities, colleges and hostels.

“Chandigarh police should also form special flying squads for surprise checks. They should issue advertisements giving details of helpline numbers and concerned nodal officers to take action against the offenders,” said Niwas.

Along with this, PU, one of the oldest universities of the country, is also implementing various measures from this academic session to keep a tab on the menace of ragging.

It has constituted separate committees for the arts block, science block and engineering block to deter students from ragging. Complaint boxes will be placed in every department of the varsity.

They are also getting an affidavit filled by the students while they are admitted, declaring that they will not indulge in any kind of ragging or violent activity on campus.

In the last academic session, nearly 25 students were involved in ragging on PU campus. Half a dozen of them were expelled.

Talking about the punishment for students involved in ragging, Niwas said: “Depending on the gravity of offence, punishment would vary from cancellation of admission, suspension from attending classes and academic privileges, fine ranging between Rs.25,000 and Rs.100,000 and rigorous imprisonment of up to three years.”