A delegation of teachers from Jawaharlal Nehru University met President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday to apprise him of their objections to the revised ordinances for the M.Phil. and Ph.D degrees that changed the admission policy at the university.
The teachers said that they wanted to bring to the President’s notice their distress at the “ongoing grave violations of the JNU Act, statutes, rules and regulations by the JNU administration” and seek his intervention.
‘Attack on research’
In a statement issued after the meeting, the teachers said that they spoke to the President at length about how “illegal imposition” of the admission policy on the JNU community was a thinly-veiled attempt to ensure that research at the Central university comes to a standstill.
The delegation also submitted an appeal signed by 48 Academic Council and Executive Council members to the President, requesting him to suspend the ordinances with immediate effect. The teachers said that they also spoke to President Mukherjee about the issue of the Vice-Chancellor tampering with the names of experts invited to the Selection Committees for recruitment to faculty positions.
According to the delegation, the President expressed his dissatisfaction at the state of affairs and said that he would do whatever he can within the constraints of his position as Visitor of the university.
The JNU Teachers’ Association added that they were appreciative of the fact that the President had been accessible in the past five months.
They also said that not only had he given them an appointment every time they wrote to him, but had also sincerely acted on the matters brought to his notice.
“While these efforts have not yet had the results they deserve, not making the effort at all is to cede the autonomy of JNU, to give up on the JNU Act, without even a murmur of opposition. That that opposition is real and is in the overwhelming majority must, and will, continue to be asserted,” said the association.
