In a latest development from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the JNUSU has made up its mind to approach the Delhi High Court seeking a direction for quashing the new hostel manual which has the contentious provisions for a fee hike.
The students’ body has issued a statement to this effect and said that it will be filing the plea on Monday against the Inter-Hall Administration manual which it claims, was passed “illegally” in October without taking the feedback of the union.
It is important to acknowledge that the students’ body at the campus has been on a strike on the issue for the last three months. The JNUSU students have made an appeal to the students community to continue boycotting the registration and the academic activities inside the campus.
The petition shall also seek registration but on the older rates and without a late fine.
Earlier in this month, the university had witnessed a tussle between student groups over the issue of registration. The stir had been enhanced when a mobbed group of outsiders came inside the campus on January 5 and rampaged the campus, injuring many students and teachers. The crowd stormed the hostels, drawing widespread outrage.
The JNUSU has appealed to the students to boycott exams and classes till they get the “buffer time”to complete the academic backlog of the Monsoon semester 2019.
The JNUSU said, “Furthermore, taking exams and/or classes at this juncture will only create more chaos and ruckus and lead to another bifurcation in the student community that has web resolutely and unitedly fighting tooth and nail against the draconian VC and his political masters.”
The JNUSU has also gone ahead and demanding that the JNU admisntaxyion should annul and completely quash all punitive actions on the students who have been protesting against the fee hike in the university which they have gone ahead and called exorbitant.
The students also allege that their representatives were not allowed or invited when the IHA manual was being passed, according to them the IHA manual has provisions for fee hike and has put an end to the reservation policy for students from marginalised backgrounds for getting accommodation in hostels.
Earlier, the university had offered a partial rollback of fee hike by offering the students who came from the BPL background a relaxation in November.
The students’ agitation refused to die and the administration thus formed a high level committee to discuss the revised hostel manual and hostel charges.
The committee has made recommendations for the utility and service charges to be reduced from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 1,000 a month for students across categories.
The HRD Ministry had also intervened and held negotiations with the administration and the students. It has also said that the UGC will take care of service and utility charges.
