Mumbai: After cancelling its convocation just two days before the scheduled ceremony last weekend, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) now plans to hold it on Aug 22. It also asked students to submit their reimbursement claims for travel between July 31 and Aug 3.While CJI Surya Kant was to be the chief guest for the Aug 2 ceremony, the rescheduled event’s chief guest has not yet been finalised. “The institute is awaiting confirmation from the prospective chief guest. The final decision is expected in the next few days,” said a TISS official.The official said a date was finalised to ease graduating students’ anxiety.In an email, TISS directed the administrative secretariat to collect all original bills, receipts, tickets and boarding passes for reimbursement claims and submit them by Aug 10. “For air/train travel, original tickets and boarding passes (both sides) must be submitted. In case of cancellation, the original cancelled tickets must be submitted too,” it said. A no-dues certificate clearance and a covering note indicating the student’s name must be part of the documents submitted.While students were unsure whether the benefit will be extended to all, the administration clarified that every genuine claim will be reimbursed. Another official said TISS has already extended all relief possible to the students. “For students and parents using the guesthouse, costs were waived. Provisional degree certificates have been made available to those who need it.”TISS had attributed the cancellation to “unforeseen circumstances”, but some students had claimed that it was probably concerned over protest fears linked to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Hundreds of students who had travelled to Mumbai or were on their way to the city with their parents and relatives were upset about the financial losses they had incurred on travel and accommodation in Mumbai owing to the abrupt cancellation.
