Half of Academic Council members refute JNU admin’s claim

Half the members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Academic Council present at its meeting on December 26 in a statement has condemned the manner in which the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar conducted the meeting, did not allow any discussion, misrepresented and distorted facts and fraudulently declared the minutes of the last meeting passed without any discussion.

The Academic Council, sources told National Herald, comprises around 100 members but only around 40 of them were present on December 26. The statement has been signed by 20 of these members present. Their statement can be read here in full.

It is worth recalling that the JNU administration suspended at least 10 students for allegedly disrupting the meeting, an allegation which is denied by both students and several members of the Council that National Herald spoke to.

JNU administration has announced a Proctorial inquiry into the incident pending which the students have been debarred from the hostel and academic activities. It has also warned residents in the campus against hosting or giving shelter to the suspended students accused of breaking the lock and forcing their way into the Convention hall raising slogans. Students National Herald spoke to claimed that the door was actually open and they had intervened only when the VC was leaving at the end of the meeting, a claim corroborated by several members of the Academic Council.

One of them told National Herald, “Students neither disrupted the meeting nor have they committed any physical violence. The allegations levelled by the administration are simply not true. Students reached the meeting room when the meeting was almost over. The door was open and they just walked in.”

Sunny Dhiman, a JNU student, told NH, “There were approximately 50 students who are said to have protested at the end of the Academic Council meeting but only students from backward communities have been targeted,” hinting that the administration’s action resembles the one taken against Rohith Vemula at the Central University of Hyderabad at the beginning of the year.

President of the JNU Students’ Union Mohit Pandey told National Herald that it was indeed sad that students have been suspended even without an inquiry. He too denied the administration’s claim that students had indulged in any act of violence.

The statement issued by 20 members of the Academic Council makes the following points:

• The meeting was convened during the winter vacation despite pleas to reschedule it.
• That it was a thinly attended meeting because of the vacation.
• That the Registrar sought to mislead the Academic Council by claiming that no written submission had been received on the Minutes of the previous meeting.
• That the Registrar had to relent when physical proof of written submissions made by members was produced.
• That the Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar did not allow any discussion or dissenting opinion.
• That the VC unilaterally declared all items on the Agenda ‘passed’despite serious reservations voiced and without allowing any discussion
• The UGC Gazette Notification of May, 2016 was not discussed in either the previous meeting or this one but the VC declared that the Academic Council had adopted it.

These members also claimed that the Vice Chancellor had left his seat and had reached close to the door leading outside when a bunch of students walked in.