A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday issued notices to the State government and various student organisations, including the Student Federation of India (SFI) and Kerala Students Union (KSU), on a public interest litigation seeking to prohibit political activities by students on college and university campuses.
The petition highlighted the recent stabbing incident and clashes between the SFI and the Fraternity Movement at the Ernakulam Maharaja’s College and said that the State had failed to control political activities of students organisations on college campuses. According to petitioner N. Prakashan of Ernakulam, the Kerala High Court had earlier directed the State government and all universities to frame rules and regulations to control student politics and maintain discipline on college and university campuses. However, the government was yet to formulate such regulations. Had students politics been prohibited, the untoward incident that happened in Maharaja’s College would not have taken place.
The petitioner also sought a declaration that the students’ unions have no right to carry out any political activities including setting up their college units within the college campus.
