New Delhi, Dec. 26: The Jawaharlal Nehru University's highest academic body today approved two certificate courses on the Vedas and yogic philosophy without discussion, cutting short a meeting after slogan-shouting students barged into the room.

The academic council (AC), led by vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, approved the courses, proposed by the varsity's Sanskrit Centre.

"The AC has approved the courses. We hope to launch them in 2018," Girish Nath Jha, the head of the centre, told The Telegraph.

The council was today expected to discuss the merits and demerits of introducing the courses, open to those who have cleared Class XII. But the students, angered by the varsity's rejection of their demand for reduced weightage to admission interviews, interrupted the meeting. Over a dozen students, some carrying drums, barged in, forcing the VC and the rector to leave the room after announcing that all items on the meeting's agenda stood as "passed".

The students had been demanding that the 30 per cent weightage for viva tests be halved asthose from socially disadvantaged sections get low marks in interviews. The students were also protesting against the council's decision to increase admission fees.

The Veda course will include a study of the four Vedas, the six Vedangas (limbs of the Vedas) and four Upanishads. The yoga course will teach Patanjali Yoga Sutras and portions from the Bhagavad Gita.

Some council members criticised the decision to approve the courses without discussions. "We disapprove of the way in which opinions of many... were not heard...," said a statement signed by 20 members. An administrative official blamed the student protest.