NIPER students march for suspended Asst Prof

HT Correspondent, Hindustan TimesChandigarh, March 31, 2013
The protest by the students of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar, entered its fourth day on Sunday. The students have been protesting against the termination of an assistant professor of the institute. The protests started on Thursday, soon after the news broke that the board of governors of NIPER had terminated Prikshit Bansal on Friday.   The services of Bansal, an assistant professor in department of intellectual property management, were terminated on the charges of "lack of devotion to duty".

On Sunday, the students marched on the roads of SAS Nagar. They demanded justice for Bansal and end to alleged corruption at NIPER. After marching in the town, they again gathered in front of NIPER main gate. At the time of the filing of this report, a meeting between student representatives and faculty of NIPER was underway to reach a consensus on the issue.

Significantly, Bansal along with another Neeraj Kumar challenged the appointment of NIPER registrar in Punjab and Haryana high court, which set it aside in December last year. However, the judgment was challenged before a double bench of the HC, which stayed the decision. The matter is pending before the double bench ever since. He also filed various complaints against alleged corruption at the institute.