New Delhi: A day after Jawaharlal Nehru University's executive council reportedly ordered a probe into at least seven deans and chairpersons of academic centres who have written to the administration against the new attendance rules, teachers are mulling over a fresh series of protests.

Late on Wednesday night, the administration replaced six chairpersons and at least one dean, Kavita Singh of the School of Arts and Aesthetics.

On the list of the chairpersons dropped is Sucheta Mahajan of the Centre for Historical Studies, who has been replaced by Umesh Kadam. Former ABVP presidential candidate Dhananjay Singh has replaced Udaya Kumar as the chairperson of the Centre for English Studies.

Protests against attendance started after it was introduced in January -- for first time in the premier research varsity's 49-year history -- after an academic council resolution that students and teachers claim was passed without discussion.

Most students have been refusing to sign attendance sheets after the move was rejected by general body meetings of students in several academic centres and the JNU Teachers' Association has been supporting the stir led by the JNU Students' Union that gheraoed officials last month.

It is learnt that seven-odd deans and chairpersons out of the 51 have written to vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar expressing their apprehensions on the move and have pointed out its impractical aspects, such as attendance for research scholars who do not have classes to attend.

At Tuesday's executive council meeting, the minutes of which are not public yet, a three-member panel has been set up to probe the motives of professors and any dereliction of their duties.

Open-air classes have been held since January and in an unofficial referendum on the issue,last week in which more than half of JNU's students participated, 98.47 per cent voted against attendance.

Earlier in the day, JNU Teachers' Association president Sona Jharia Minz told this newspaper: "We have decided to oppose the decision of the executive council to probe teachers for merely writing to the administration expressing the practical difficulties in implementing this scheme. The attendance regulations itself have not been confirmed by the academic council, which is the competent body to decide on academic matters."

She added: "The JNUTA has called for a general body meeting of teachers on Friday to decide the future course of action against this decision to probe teachers for expressing their views through proper channel on a decision that itself was violative of procedure."

A source said that teachers are divided over whether moderate protests, such as sit-ins and public meetings - for which teachers have been hauled up -should be carried out or a more aggressive protest should follow.

The high court is hearing a case of contempt filed by the administration against students for the gherao.