Party-pooper director faces students' ire

The four-day youth festival at Alkesh Dinesh Modi Management Institute on Kalina campus of the University of Mumbai ended on a sour note on Wednesday night.

The institute’s the director stopped the dance and music event, citing the 10 pm-deadline rule. The angry BMS students created a ruckus on the campus till late night demanding the immediate removal of the director, saying he has his degrees in arts not in management.

According to sources, the BMS students who had organised this festival wanted to enjoy the programme but the institute’s director Prof SV Ratnaparkhi stopped the event by 9.30pm citing HC rule. He drove them out of the gate with the help of security guards.
Over 350 students started shouting slogans against the director which went on till midnight. The police arrived and asked the agitated students to go home.

About 100 students gathered on the campus on Thursday, although it was a holiday, and protested outside the institute, demanding the director’s removal.  Ratnaparkhi claimed that the dance was stopped as per the rules. “Also, I was worried about the girls who stay as far as Kalyan. I know students are unhappy but I will resolve the issue.”

He said his degrees are in management. “I did Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Kolhapur University with specialisation in personnel management. My PhD was also in personnel management from Tata Institute of Social Sciences,” he said.

A university official said that MSW comes under the arts stream and Ratnaparkhi’s qualification case is in court.