While the Jawaharlal Nehru University students continue their streak of Monday protest marches, as they have planned to march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President's residence, on Monday, December 9, the teachers' association have also written a letter to the President demanding the JNU Vice-Chancellor's resignation. The students' demands remain the same — affordable and quality education for all being the most prominent of them all, while they also demand the removal of their VC.
The JNUTA urged in their letter to the President to take necessary steps to see that the VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar no longer holds the position of Vice Chancellor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. "Unfortunately, the obvious complete loss of trust in, and respect for, his leadership in the University community has not been sufficient for him to acknowledge his failures and to gracefully step down from his office. We urge you, therefore, to take necessary steps to see that Prof Kumar no longer holds the position of Vice Chancellor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, so that teaching, learning, and research can be conducted as it always was before his appointment as Vice Chancellor and attain newer heights. We urge you to act urgently in this manner so that the functioning of the University can continue as per the statutes and ordinances and in consonance with the JNU Act by following due process in all areas and within the parameters of legality. By raising our concerns with you, we are only performing what is our duty to the people of the country to whom our University ultimately belongs," DK Lobiyal, the president and Surajit Mazumdar, secretary of the JNUTA wrote in the letter.
The teachers have accused the VC of single-handedly destroying the premier research and educational institution and said that he has failed to ensure the conditions for normal academic activity in the varsity. "On behalf of the teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University, we are writing to you to request you to use the powers vested in you under the Jawaharlal Nehru University Act, 1966, to end the state of crisis the University has been brought to by the mis-governance of the University by its current Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor M Jagadesh Kumar. An immediate challenge before us is the situation arising from an arbitrary decision of the University Administration to significantly hike hostel charges, which has put the interests of thousands of students at stake. The current failure to ensure the conditions for normal academic activity, however, is symptomatic of a larger malaise that has gripped the University and has kept it in the news ever since Prof Kumar took up the reins as Vice Chancellor," said the letter.
It added that the very person entrusted with its wellbeing and progress is the reason for the current crisis the institution is going through. "It is a crisis brought on single handedly by the present Vice Chancellor through his defiance of an act of Parliament, the JNU Act, his appalling disregard for and illegal flouting of statutes, ordinances, and rules of the University, and scant consideration for the welfare of students, faculty, or karmacharis. This has completely destabilised the University community and severely undermined the teaching and learning process in JNU for almost four years," the teachers have said in the letter to the President.
The teachers have also alleged that the VC has consistently refused to speak to the JNUTA or the students’ representatives. "While a perception has been sought to be created that students and faculty have not cooperated with the Vice-Chancellor and his administration, the truth is very different. Prof Kumar has simply refused to follow the path of legality and clean governance and has
systematically and deliberately dismantled the entire institutional framework of governance," stated the letter.
