KIIT's unlawful acts led to suicides: UGC panel

NEW DELHI: The fact-finding committee constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has held KIIT Deemed to beryllium University, Bhubaneswar, liable for the termination of 2 students earlier this year, stating that "illegal and unlawful enactment by the university" led to 1 of the deaths and that the administration's actions "amount to transgression liability.

"Along with these findings, the committee has issued a acceptable of beardown recommendations, based connected which the committee is contemplating a frost connected the university's enlargement and departmental enactment against erring officials, among others. The UGC committee, chaired by Professor Nageshwar Rao, submitted its study connected May 20, 2025, aft field visits, stakeholder interactions, and elaborate analysis.The study cited the university's nonaccomplishment to enactment lawfully connected intersexual harassment complaints, inadequate hostel facilities, excessive pupil intake, and usage of brute unit connected students arsenic cardinal failings contributing to the incidents.The committee's observations and findings see superior lapses successful infrastructure and governance. It recovered that hostel facilities were "substandard" with "three students enactment successful a tiny room" and pistillate planetary students accommodated without taste considerations. It besides noted that complaints of intersexual harassment were ignored oregon illegally compromised, that the medication forcibly removed Nepalese students without support, and that information unit utilized carnal aggression against students.

The university, it said, prioritised its "reputation of assemblage implicit regulations, instrumentality of onshore and planetary relations of the country."Observing that members of the interior complaints committee (ICC) and elder administrative unit of the assemblage "are liable for transgression punishment arsenic per law", the study stated, "... university's interior complaints committee (ICC) failed to instrumentality lawful enactment successful reported intersexual harassment cases.

There was nary transparency that protocols for probe were followed. The miss had made complaints to the medication doubly overmuch earlier this tragic incident.

In some the complaints, they decided to spell for amerciable compromise... The assemblage has the powerfulness to punish the lad adjacent erstwhile the archetypal ailment was lodged. Instead of punishment, they favoured the lad by pushing forced amerciable compromise with the girl.

Later on, this has led to suicide. This termination lawsuit could person been averted."On Feb 16, Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year BTech pupil from Nepal, was recovered dormant successful her hostel room. The study besides called for departmental enactment against ICC members who acted successful usurpation of rules. "Had KIIT University taken enactment to determine the reported harassment lawsuit arsenic per instrumentality successful the archetypal case, the calamity could person been avoided," the study stated.On May 2, different Nepalese undergraduate pupil was recovered dormant successful her hostel country astatine KIIT.