Kerala HC stays MG University VC’s refund order over cockroach posters
The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the MG University Vice-Chancellor's order that the students' union refund ₹2.81 lakh granted for a national conference. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas termed the August 1…
The Story in Brief
The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the MG University Vice-Chancellor's order that the students' union refund ₹2.81 lakh granted for a national conference. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas termed the August 1 directive arbitrary. The court has sought responses from the university and its officials. The matter returns on October 9, 2026.
The dispute centres on cockroach-themed posters for the four-day conference 'Discourses beyond boundaries' held on campus. The university claimed the posters, featuring a cockroach before a boot and pushing a curtain, carried political overtones and violated the students' code of conduct. The students' union argued the cockroach is a symbol of resistance, not a political party. The conference proceeded without university funds.
The Indian Opinion
The university's demand to claw back a grant over a cockroach poster looks heavy-handed, but the students' union also risks painting every campus dispute as a free-speech battle. The posters might be edgy, but are they political? The court will decide on October 9 whether the VC's order was arbitrary. Until then, the real test is whether the images genuinely violated the code of conduct or were simply an artistic provocation.
Source: barandbench.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
