The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has today denounced the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) as ‘illegal’ and ordered them to vacate the unlawfully squatted JNUSU office by today 5 PM, failing which they have warned the Student Union of double locking the room.
The administration stated that they had issued a notice informing about the proceedings to both last year and this year’s JNUSU because of the non-compliance with the Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations.
The notice which was signed by Umesh Ashok Kadam, the Dean of Students said, “To prevent misuse of property, it is decided by the Competent Authority of the University that the said room shall be locked immediately and the same may be handed over to the JNUSU after notification of the same.”
On the expected lines, the decision to evict them has not sit well with the JNUSU which called for a protest outside their Union office at 3.30 pm on Wednesday. They publicly burned the notice order issued to them by the JNU admin. The Union has termed the eviction order as an ‘onslaught’ to muzzle students’ voice. They have asserted that they will physically oppose any attempt to expel them. In addition, JNUSU basic secretary Satish Chandra Yadav claimed that the college didn’t inform the Union in advance with regards to the violations.
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Critiquing admin’s decision, the JNUSU issued a statement saying that they would like to ‘remind the administration that the JNUSU office is not the personal property of the Dean to allot’. It is a symbol of the JNU Student Community’s Right to Representation and Unionise, that is entrusted to the JNUSU,” the Union said. They also contended that the JNUSU was recognised and legitimised by the Delhi High Court.
Furthermore, the Students Union contended that it was not invited to the current Tutorial Council assembly. JNUSU president for the last 12 months, N. Sai Balaji reasoned that had the union been illegal, Delhi High Court would have already deemed it null and void.
Earlier this year, JNUSU elections were embroiled in controversy after two candidates approached the Delhi High Court to get a stay on the elections. The High Court said in an order that they didn’t see any relevant reason to put a stay on the election results.
In its judgment, the Delhi HC had asked the JNU to notify the election results as long as they were in accordance with the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines and with approval from the Grievance Redressal Committee.
