Referenews

The university’s submission came days after Mahato received a gold medal for his bachelor’s course from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on December 12.

Also, as per the conclusion of the report by a nine-member fact-finding committee dated May 9, 2022, the controversy over the artworks erupted due to lack of monitoring and guidance by teachers of the university.

MSU Registrar Krishnakumar Chudasma in an affidavit dated November 28 filed in the Gujarat HC said MSU had followed the procedure “laid down in the Ordinance and following the principles of natural justice” before debarring Kundan, whose artworks’ photos had been circulated on social media despite being removed from the evaluation on May 5, 2022, when right-wing groups had created a ruckus on the campus of Faculty of Fine Arts.

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Kundan had moved a petition in October this year challenging the move to debar him.

The affidavit filed by the MSU Registrar further states that it “offered the petitioner” a copy of the report of May 9, 2022, which was rejected by him.

The affidavit says, “The petitioner was given an opportunity to appear and submit an explanation to the fact-finding committee and also called upon to submit an explanation to the show-cause notice.”

“It is stated that the date of the letter and date of the fact-finding committee report is mistyped… The letter constituting the fact-finding committee is dated May 5, 2022, and the fact finding committee report is dated May 9, 2022. The petitioner vide his RTI application on June 24, 2022, had asked to provide the report of the fact-finding committee dated May 10, 2022 and letter dated May 6, 2022. Since there was no fact-finding committee report dated May 10, 2022 and no letter dated May 6, 2022, the office offered to provide the fact-finding report as the fact-finding committee report as of May 9, 2022… The petitioner did not accept the said request,” the affidavit stated.

However, the fact finding committee report dated May 9, 2022 — a copy of which has been annexed in Chudasma’s affidavit — has blamed the university for “negligence of duty”.

In its rustication notice, MSU had cited that it had decided to debar Kundan based on five documents — a letter of the university dated May 6, 2022; a self-confession statement of the student dated May 9; the report of the fact-finding committee dated May 10; syndicate resolution dated May 10 and show-cause notice dated May 12.

In June, after MSU syndicated rejected Kundan’s appeal to reconsider its decision to debar him, Kundan had sought the specific letters mentioned in the rustication notice from the university under RTI to which MSU had replied stating that “no such letters or reports are available”.

Kundan’s advocate Hitesh Gupta said they have filed a rejoinder in the case on December 6, seeking an explanation regarding MSU’s incoherent RTI reply and affidavit.

“They have told the court that they received Kundan’s confession statement on the evening of May 9, on which they have based their decision to debar him while also mentioning that the fact-finding committee met to decide the case on the morning of May 9… How could they have considered the letter if the committee met earlier?” Gupta said.

“Moreover, the fact-finding committee itself has found no fault in Kundan but blamed the negligence of the university itself. The MSU has sought time on December 8 to reply to our rejoinder and therefore, the next hearing is slated for January 5, 2023,” the lawyer added.

Meanwhile, Kundan is elated. “I feel blessed that my teachers at BHU are supporting me and wish that my career should be cleared of this blemish,” he said.

Kundan, a first-year student of Sculpture of Master of Visual Arts, has also received support from former alumnus and teachers at the Faculty and noted artist Jyotindra Bhatt (Jyoti).