Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Vice-Chancellor (VC), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has warned the administration of hostels to not to allow any student to overstay in hostels beyond five years. The VC stated that the varsity has a problem of “freeloaders” —overstaying students and illegal guests.
“We have a problem of freeloaders,” she said during an interview with a newsagency. She said this wasprominent back when she was a student but now, it the numbers have increased. “When I was there, we had many students who stayed over but the number of such students was very low,” Pandit.
“JNU creates certain illusions too...certain students want everything free and subsidised...even the Lok Sabha canteen is costlier than the JNU canteen but in our times, teachers were very strict,” she said.
“The professor supervising my research told me if you don’t complete it in four-and-a-half years, you are out. I knew he wouldn’t sign my fellowship extension...I think this has changed over the years. Certain professors permitted such extensions and that’s how the number has gone up today,” Pandit said.
“There are also people on campus who are illegal guests, who are not even students of JNU but come here and stay. They are either preparing for UPSC or other exams...for them, JNU is the cheapest place to stay...in southwest Delhi, where can you get such an accommodation with greenery, spread over 2,000 acres and with such dhabas and cheap food,” she asked.
Pandit said the administration was now trying to bring this down to a large extent. “It is very difficult for us to get into the rooms...we still do it while sticking to the norms. We also appeal to the good sense of the students and ask them to at least inform if they are bringing a guest.”
