Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala University has refused to allow Bollywood actress Sunny Leone's performance in its engineering campus.

As part of Tech Fest, the student union had planned an event by Lyon on 5 July.

The university's vice-chancellor, Mohanan Kunnumal, said that permission was refused because there was an existing directive from the Department of Higher Education to ban the performance of "outside bands" on campuses.

"Following the recent stampede incident at the CUSAT campus, there is an existing directive to ban the performance of outside bands on the campus," Kunnumal said.

The Vice Chancellor said that he came to know about this program after seeing its poster.

He added, "There is also a rule that funds should not be collected from outside for functions inside the campuses. In this particular campus, there are only around 300 students, and for a Bollywood celebrity, an exorbitant amount needs to be collected." "

Sources said that since the campus comes under Kerala University, such events require permission from the university's registrar, which was not sought.