A student-run hostel council at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has reportedly asked students to use separate plates to eat non-vegetarian food at the mess in the hostel for women post-graduates and researchers.

The mess co-ordinator of Hostel 11 sent an email asking students to use “tray type plates” if they were eating meat after receiving complaints that same plates were being used for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

An IIT-Bombay student told Scroll.in that vegetarians and non-vegetarians already sat at different tables in the hostel mess. “However, this is the first time we are being asked to use separate plates,” she said. “One or two students objected and without any consultation the hostel administration sent us an official mail asking us to use separate plates.”

However, hostel mess team denied that it had asked students to use separate plates for non-vegetarian food. “This is to clarify that all IIT-Bombay hostels always serve non-vegetarian food at a separate counter in a separate small dish,” the team said. “There are no separate plates for non-veg food. Plates are same for all. This practice has been in all hostels for a long time. Some student has misunderstood this request.”