Jawaharlal Nehru University to Delhi High Court: Peace in varsity, no agitation

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The Jawaharlal Nehru University on Thursday said to the Delhi High Court that there was peace in the varsity without any protest. The Varsity claimed that students are attending classes and nobody was agitating against a decision to make at least 75 percent attendance a must for all the students.

The university's submission came on a query posed by Justice Rekha Palli as to what was the status of protest by the students and teachers in the campus.

"It's peace now after several months. Nobody is agitating. Classes are going on smoothly," central government standing counsel Monika Arora, who was appearing in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said.

The court had earlier termed as "unfortunate and sad" the holding of classes on stairs in the campus amid the agitation against the decision of making 75 percent attendance mandatory for students. The court was hearing a plea by five professors of JNU's different disciplines challenging the December 12, 2017 decision of the varsity's Academic Council (AC), making 75 percent attendance mandatory for students.

In their plea, the five professors have alleged that the decision was taken on the basis of "false and illegal minutes" contrary to the agenda and the proceedings of the 144th meeting of the Academic Council. They have also challenged the decision to replace them by an acting dean and acting chairperson saying it was arbitrary and illegal.

During the hearing, the court asked the JNU's counsel whether they were ready to reinstate them. The varsity's counsel, assisted by advocate Kushal Kumar, said the teachers were replaced after they refused to implement the compulsory attendance, and if they agree to take attendance of the students, JNU was ready to reinstate them.

The lawyer said they were temporarily replaced till further orders and an enquiry committee has been set up to examine their refusal to abide by the AC's decision. The JNU, in its written submissions filed in the court, said the mandatory attendance rule for all students was implemented by it after AC's December 1, 2017 meeting which was confirmed by the Executive Council on December 15, 2017.

It said the rule was brought in by following due process of law and the AC makes its decision by passing a resolution by a majority in a democratic manner. The court listed the matter for April 27 for further hearing. The court had earlier said that the manner in which the students, keen to attend classes, were being stopped was "very unfortunate" and had asked the counsel for the JNU teachers to look into the issue and ask the students and faculty members not to block the way to classrooms.

The plea was filed by five professors -- Kavita Singh (School of Arts and Aesthetics), Uday Kumar (Centre for English Studies, School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies), Dhir Sarangi (School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies), Pradip Kumar Datta (School of International Studies) and Sucheta Mahajan (School of Social Sciences).

It has said the petitioners, who were also the members of the University's AC, along with other members had written to the University administration that the minutes of the meeting were factually incorrect and the AC must be convened to correct it.

In response to these demands, a circular was issued on February 8, 2018, threatening the students with reduction of their fellowships and other coercive steps, the petition alleged.

Also Read: JNU Students Allege Sexual Harassment By Professor

Edited by mid-day online desk, with inputs from PTI

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