The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Chengalpattu campus, an apology for law college

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Chengalpattu campus, an apology for law college

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, OCT. 27. Less than 1,000 square feet of total study space; 50 sqft each for library and toilets; a 20-sqft faculty room; no hostel even for girls; no protected drinking water; no sports and extracurricular activities. This is the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University Law College at Chengalpattu for you.

It is the "suitable alternative site" identified and provided by the Government to more than 450 students, after their prolonged struggle to shift from the another "premises," which was nothing but one floor of a commercial complex housing a bank and an insurance company.

Over a month after the Government told the Madras High Court that it would shift the college to a suitable place, the undertaking stands fulfilled only in letter and not in spirit.

Official apathy

The new 10-acre, fenced premises at NGGO Nagar, about three km from Chengalpattu town, has never witnessed any meaningful learning, sports and extra-curricular activities, students complain. Not even a single official from the university or the Department of Legal Studies has visited the campus and heard their grievances.

"While charging Rs. 17,019 as fee, as against only Rs. 1,400 collected in other government law colleges, the authorities said it was a prestigious constituent of the university. They promised us heaven and said there would be a qualitative difference in the academic and infrastructural facilities here. We are yet to see any difference," says a student from Chennai, who did not want to be quoted.

The building has one long hall divided into six unequal and undersized rooms — three classrooms, a staff room, a library and the principal's office. The entire structure will shake violently during rain or winds or when ceiling fans are on, students say.

Inflated rentals

Most of the students cite the absence of hostel and transport facilities as the biggest problems. About 90 of the 150 girl students, and 150 of the 325 boys have been forced to find rented accommodation in villages near the campus. Many of them complain that besides inflated rentals, they faced the problems of drunken landlords and local rowdies demanding money from them.

Not hopeful of the building getting ready before they complete the course, many said, "till then, at least for tuition purposes, we must be accommodated somewhere in Chennai."

Most of the faculty members share many of these problems. A senior member said so far eight letters had been despatched to the transport department demanding exclusive bus facilities for the students. "A pucca building will be ready within six months," he says.

Concerned lawyers blame the Bar Council, both in the State and in Delhi, for the sorry state of legal education in Tamil Nadu. The Council members should have inspected the new premises before permitting the Government to relocate the college, they say.

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