Kataka: The Ravenshaw University in Odisha’s Kataka on Wednesday overhauled its hostel administration, appointing a new Chief Warden and reshuffling numerous other posts in the wake of prolonged campus unrest that included student hunger strikes and a bitter confrontation between faculty members and a local legislator.
According to a university notification, Professor Purnendu Parhi, Head of the Department of Chemistry, has taken over as the new Chief Warden with immediate effect, replacing Professor Sudarshan Mishra, who has been relieved of his administrative duties to focus on teaching and research. Similarly, Raja Kishore Prusty has been appointed as the new deputy warden of East Hostel, replacing Rabiul Ansary, whose resignation the student had demanded for locking rooms in the hostel on August 2, following a Friendship Day celebration.
University officials described the changes, which affect more than two dozen positions across 13 hostels, as a step to strengthen hostel management and restore smooth functioning after recent disruptions.
The restructuring follows an indefinite hunger strike by students of the East Hostel that began in early August. Boarders protested what they described as mismanagement and harassment by hostel officials, specifically demanding the resignation of Ansari.
Tensions escalated sharply when Cuttack Sadar BJP MLA Prakash Chandra Sethi visited the campus on August 3 to participate in discussions aimed at resolving the East Hostel dispute. Faculty members and the Ravenshaw University Teachers’ Association (RUTA) accused the legislator of entering the premises uninvited, interfering in university affairs, and abusing senior faculty, including the then Chief Warden Sudarshan Mishra, in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor and students. RUTA and the wardens viewed the episode as a serious breach of university autonomy and statutory protocols. In response, Prof Mishra and around 29 other wardens and deputy wardens submitted collective resignations from their hostel duties, creating an administrative vacuum and sparking campus protests demanding an unconditional apology from the MLA.
Sethi, who has described himself as an Assembly-nominated member of the university Senate, rejected the accusations. He wrote to the Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly seeking disciplinary action against Prof Mishra, claiming the professor had shown disrespectful and insulting conduct toward an elected representative during the meeting. The MLA maintained that he had visited the campus in his capacity as a local representative and Senate member solely to help address student grievances and restore normalcy. The mutual allegations of misconduct turned the original hostel dispute into a broader institutional and political standoff.
Throughout the crisis, Vice Chancellor Arka Kumar Das Mohapatra repeatedly stressed that academic activities and hostel operations remained largely unaffected, with caretakers and senior officials monitoring the situation to minimise inconvenience to students. He expressed hope that dialogue would resolve the impasse.