Telangana HC Dismisses Petition on Rahul Gandhi's OU Visit

The writ petition seeking direction to Osmania University (OU) to grant  permission to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to interact with the students of the university was dismissed by Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of Telangana High Court on Wednesday, May 4.

The petition was filed by PhD scholar K Manavatha Roy as well as three other students while OU was represented by its Vice-Chancellor and Registrar. The interaction was going to be held at the Tagore Auditorium on the OU campus.

The court clearly mentioned that the campus cannot be used as a political platform. Even though it was stated by the petitioner that in earlier instances, certain political events were held on campus, including BJP's mock assembly, the celebration of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's birthday and the birthday celebrations of George Reddy, the same cannot be a ground to permit political events in violation of resolution passed by the Executive Council of the University, it said.

"Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees positive equality and not negative equality. Merely because the respondents are stated to have permitted other activities, this court cannot permit the proposed meeting in violation of its executive council resolution," it added.

It was the opinion of the court that the Registrar, who is responsible for all the university's administrative affairs, is the best person to make decisions on which activities can and cannot be held on the  campus.

Also Read: Telangana High Court Directs Osmania University VC to Permit Rahul Gandhi's Meeting