On January 18, a group of hostel students has submitted an application to the college principal requesting transfer or change of hostel chowkidars. When no action was taken, they met the principal twice - on January 22 and February 13.

Still when there was no response from the college management, the hostelites assembled together on Tuesday morning at 8 and requested the professors and students to vacate the college premises.

The college main gate was closed. The college general secretary Kuldeep Bagwe negotiated between the management and the students. The hostelites, among other things, had demanded change or transfer of the hostel chowkidars, installation of a telephone booth within the hostel premises for receiving calls andmaking late night STD calls at cheaper rates, re-starting the celebrations of Hostel Day, stopping the Rs 400 deduction from the students' refundable hostel deposit in respect of excess electricity and water bills.

Their final demand was that the practice of using the room in which Veer Savarkar had stayed during his hostel days in Block 1 as a guest room for parents be stopped and made into a `memorial' from which the students can gain inspiration.

At the meeting, the principal agreed to stop the Rs 400 deduction from the refundable deposit. He also extended the boy's hostel deadline from 10.30 to 11.30 pm so that students could avail of the quarter-rate STD facilities. Also decided was to stop using the Veer Savarkar room as a guest room.

The principal later said, "I have been a hostelite myself and I do understand their problems. The fact that the students came forward to do something is a healthy sigh but I am disappointed that they had to resort to this."