Jadavpur University has decided to hold an executive council meeting on Monday to discuss the installation of CCTV cameras on campus following a clearance from the high court.

Last month, a division bench of Calcutta High Court said that though the university does not have a vice-chancellor, the pro-vice chancellor has been authorised to convene a meeting of the university’s highest decision-making body to discuss security features like CCTV cameras.

The university has also been asked to discuss whether it would require funds from the state government for the CCTV cameras and other measures to ensure the smooth running of the campus.

JU pro vice-chancellor Amitava Datta told Metro: “A meeting of the university’s highest decision-making body will be held on the issue of security following what the court has ordered.”

On June 19, the high court directed JU’s pro-vice chancellor to convene an executive council meeting to decide on the additional CCTV cameras. JU has not had a VC since April. It is expected to have a full-term vice-chancellor before Durga Puja. The court was hearing a PIL urging a security beef-up at JU.

The high court order says the lawyer representing JU submitted that the higher education department’s secretary had been requested to convene a meeting of the executive council because a provision in the state Act does not allow the pro-VC to convene a meeting of the university’s highest decision-making body.

The court order says: “Considering the gravity of the issues involved, we feel that no formal permission is required from the principal secretary (of the higher education department) and, accordingly, we direct the pro vice-chancellor to convene a meeting of the executive council urgently on the agenda and file are port.”

The order directed the university to approach the education department for the release of funds that “may be payable to enable the university” to install further CCTV cameras on or around the campus and any other capital expenditure required for security and other purposes.

The need to bring the entire campus under CCTV surveillance was highlighted when a first-year student allegedly died because of ragging in the university’s main hostel.

It gained greater currency after education minister Bratya Basu was detained on the campus on March 1 by a section of students demanding the restoration of campus polls.

The protesting students mounted on the minister’s car when he went to attend the annual general meeting of a Pro-Trinamool college and university teachers’ association.

The minister’s car had hit a student while the vehicle was exiting the campus, trying to go through a cordon that the students had thrown around the car.

According to a JU official, the court talked about additional CCTV cameras as some cameras had been installed for the first time on the campus gates and the hostels in September 2023, a month after the first-year student fell from the hostel balcony, allegedly after being harassed by senior students.

“What happened in March suggested that we needed to have more CCTVs. Even the police suggested more CCTV cameras on the campus,” said a JU official.

The education department earlier gave JU ₹37 lakh to install the CCTV cameras.

Parthapratim Roy, the secretary of the university’s teachers’ association, said: “The university should have the right to convene a meeting of the executive council on any issue. There is no need to take permission from the education department. If the council meeting is not held regularly, it will trigger a deadlock on the campus.”