Events organised at Jadavpur University, either by the students’ groups or any department, would henceforth need approval from a committee that has recently been set up by the university authorities.

A 13-member committee on the “approval and monitoring of programmes” was constituted days after residents living near the JU campus complained of loud noise during an event organised by a students’ organisation.

The committee comprises teachers and university officials.

Its terms of reference include considering applications to organise events.

The applications must be filled out in the prescribed format seven days before the event and must be “submitted to the committee for consideration”, stated a notice issued by the university authorities a few days back.

“Application must be submitted through the proper channel,” it said.

Earlier, there was no such committee from which prior approval was required, a JU official said. Organisers only had to inform the registrar’s office about their programmes.

“We cannot allow holding events indiscriminately. The committee will approve the applications after checking the details and will then decide on approving,” JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said on Wednesday.

“Given the number of vehicles that enter the campus on the occasion of the events, there are chances that some accidents could take place,” the VC said.

The notice, signed by the acting registrar Selim Box Mandal, says that in case of students’ union programmes, the applications must be forwarded through the dean of students.

For any programme of departments or schools, the applications must be forwarded through the head of the department or the respective director and dean.

“Requests for stalls that are set up during the events will be approved as per the decision of the committee,” the notice stated.

A JU official said the applicants have to specify how many guests are going to be invited.

This is not the first time complaints have been raised about loud noise from campus fests disturbing residents in adjoining neighbourhoods.

In April 2023, poet Srijato Bandopadhyay, a former student of Jadavpur Vidyapith, a school that adjoins JU, and a resident of Selimpur, which is close to the university campus, had posted a message on his Facebook page alleging that loud noise was emanating from loudspeakers used at a fest at the university.

The poet’s post coincided with Sanskriti, a fest that is traditionally organised by the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (Fetsu) and continued from April 1 to 10.

Such fests were held recently.

In April 2023, the university had also uploaded a notice “appealing” against the use of high-volume loudspeakers on campus, stating that such high-pitched noise
had drawn “sharp criticism from research scholars residing in nearby hostels, teachers living in campus quarters, and residents of surrounding areas”.