New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia has constituted a seven-member high-level committee to engage with protesting students, examine their demands and work towards restoring normalcy on campus, the university said on Monday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of senior university functionaries chaired by Vice-Chancellor Mazhar Asif on Sunday evening, amid protests by students demanding the restoration of the students' union.
The committee comprises senior deans and professors and will hold discussions with the protesting students to address their grievances and take necessary steps towards ensuring peace on campus, the university said in a statement.
The administration said it was committed to resolving the matter through constructive dialogue and deliberations based on mutual trust and understanding, while seeking cooperation from the protesting students and other stakeholders.
Students have been staging protests and sitting on a hunger strike, demanding the restoration of the students' union, which was dissolved in 2006. The agitation has brought the long-pending issue of student representation at the university back into focus, with protesters seeking the revival of an elected union.
The university said students' union elections were dissolved in 2006 following recurrent incidents of violent clashes, attacks on teachers and disruptions of classes. It also referred to a 2022 Delhi High Court order, saying the court had disposed of the matter without issuing directions to the university to conduct students' union elections.
The present administration, which assumed office in October 2024, said it remained committed to finding an amicable resolution to the two-decade-old impasse.
It also highlighted the existing system of subject association elections in departments and centres, under which students elect a vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary through secret ballots.
The university appealed to students and other stakeholders to work towards maintaining peace and harmony on campus and safeguarding the institution's reputation and academic environment.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.