The city-based Maharashtra Institute of Technology’s World Peace University (MIT-WPU) has issued a circular “cautioning” writers submitting articles or papers to ensure their content does not appear to be against the government or “any statutory authorities”.

The circular, which has been accessed by The Hindu, says that only articles approved by the vice chancellor would be sent for publication. “It is the responsibility of the writer to ensure that the content [is] factually correct, does not hurt the sentiment of readers and it does not sound being against the government or any statutory authorities,” reads the circular.

Speaking to The Hindu, Dr. Prashant Dave, registrar, MIT-WPU, categorically refuted suggestions of the circular forcing writers to toe a pro-government line, stating that while expressing an opinion was a fundamental right of the writer, such an opinion could be misconstrued by outsiders as being the opinion of the organisation.

“This notification is purely a cautionary circular … While the author of any article or a paper has complete freedom to express his or her opinion even if it goes against the government, we urge that they base their arguments on sound evidence. Governments come and go and the purpose of this circular is certainly not to discourage writers and articles from expressing their opinions, merely that they express opinions supplemented by sound arguments,” he said.

Dr. Dave also denied suggestions that the circular was necessitated because of previous incidents where articles advocating an anti-government stance had been submitted for publication.

The circular goes on to say that the content must “not trigger any controversy of political, social or religious nature” and should be purely academic and unbiased in nature. It then says that before publishing articles, the writer must submit them “through the Dean/ Pro-Vice-Chancellor to the V-C and that only those approved by the latter would be sent for publication”.