JNU Court asks teachers, students not to lie to the media, but fails to address any concerns raised by them

An external member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Court on Wednesday accused JNUTA and JNUSU of feeding misinformation to media and thus bringing down the image of the varsity in the society at large. The JNU Court is the supreme statutory body of the university which meets once in a year and the Chancellor of the university presides over this meeting.

Dr V K Saraswat, the Chancellor of JNU also advised the concerned faculty and students against rushing to the media and making "unfounded statements" that ruin the prestige of the university, the varsity said in a statement. The Chancellor underlined that demand for democracy should be made with responsibility and accountability in actions, it said.

One of the external members of the JNU Court stated the teachers and the students unions are feeding misinformation to media and social media and thus bringing down the image of the university in the society at large, said the varsity's registrar Pramod Kumar. When disciplinary action is taken against violation of rules, it is depicted as illegal “punitive measures”, the member said. Without an iota of evidence, allegations are made by JNUTA that financial irregularities are being made by administration, whereas there is transparency on all financial matters and the expenditures are regularly audited by the CAG, the member said.

The JNU Court also expressed displeasure about some teachers not following the attendance rules of the university, Kumar said. The Court expressed its dismay over teachers and students associations blatantly violating the JNU rules and defying even the order of the Delhi High Court which prohibit holding protests of all kinds, including hunger strike, demonstrations and sit-ins within one hundred meters of the administration building and academic complexes, he said.

The JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) held a 24-hour long hunger strike last week and demanded the withdrawal of "arbitrary circulars" pertaining to rescheduling of the Academic Calendar and Compliance of Faculty Attendance. The JNU court was informed that the Golden Jubilee celebrations of JNU would start on January 12, 2019 with the installation of Swami Vivekananda statue. It was made clear that no university funds are used for the statue. JNUTA had submitted a memorandum to the JNU Court before the meeting alleging illegality of the various circulars issued by the JNU administration.

The circulars were aimed towards threatening the teaching community and placing the well established and proven system of accountability existing in the JNU teaching-learning process, the teachers association said. JNUTA said there was hardly any discussion and deliberation in the Court meeting on any of the agenda items. "Several faculty members, especially women faculty members present at the JNU Court meeting, and the JNUTA President were subjected to personal humiliation by the Vice Chancellor. When faculty members got up to ask questions on the agenda items, before they could even speak, the Vice Chancellor ridiculed them before other members of the Court," the JNUTA alleged.