Guwahati: The Telangana High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by Osmania University students seeking a directive from the vice-chancellor to allow face-to-face engagement between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and the students.
The Congress MP was supposed to meet with university students and unemployed youngsters at the university auditorium on May 7.
“The proposed meeting, which according to the petitioners would be a face-to-face interaction of students with Rahul Gandhi, cannot be said to be without political overtones in the absence of material to substantiate that the meeting is for some academic activities,” the high court said while hearing the petition.
“The University campus cannot be exploited as a political forum,” the judge added.
“Permitting political events is a violation of Resolution No 6 of the university’s executive council’s 1591h meeting,” it continued.
“The Indian Constitution ensures positive equality, not negative equality, as stated in Article 14. “This court cannot approve the intended meeting in breach of its executive council resolution just because the respondents are purported to have permitted other activities,” the court judgement noted.