Several representative of students’ and teachers’ associations were allegedly not invited to a meeting of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s academic council on Friday, days after a Delhi High Court verdict undoing the 90 per cent research seat cut came as a victory to them.
None of the four students’ union representatives, including one from the SFI that had appealed in the high court against JNU’s decision to reduce research seats, was called to the meeting, neither were the teachers’ association secretary and a dean.
The JNU students’ union organised a strike on Friday to protest the decision not to invite certain representatives to the meeting.
The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) said in a statement: “We are shocked to find that despite the recent Delhi High Court order directing JNU to fill up MPhil and PhD seats that remained vacant in the 2017-18 admissions, the academic council agenda does not have a single item pertaining to the admissions and prospectus.
“This is a violation of the JNU Act, statues and regulations of the most egregious order. We see that through a notification, the vice-chancellor has handed over the academic council’s power to determine the number of seats offered for admission, the admission schedule and changes in the admission policy to a committee comprising 10 of his JNU nominees, two persons from IIT Delhi and a third from Delhi University.
“Another illegal and unrepresentative committee, called a Task Force, will conduct the entrance examination.”
The teachers’ association added that the agenda, which included the imposition of Central Civil Services Rules that apply to bureaucrats on teachers, was circulated two to three days before the meting, not the mandated 10 days.
JNUTA president Sonajharia Minz told The Telegraph that when she raised at the meeting a point of order drawing the attention of vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar to the decision against inviting JNUTA secretary Sudhir Suthar, it was denied.
Kumar is yet to respond to queries from this paper on the high court verdict.
Registrar Pramod Kumar’s media release on Friday made no mention of the points the JNUTA raised, besides a single line that the academic council decided that “every effort should be made to fill in all the MPhil and PhD vacancies”.
He clarified that the JNUSU was not invited as its office-bearers had not been notified yet by the dean of students. He did not take calls or reply to messages on the two teachers who were kept out of Friday’s meeting.