The MHRD-appointed 'high power' committee might come to a decision about the students' demands of rejecting the hostel manual and fee hike over the weekend, sources at the university said. But the committee also harped on the fact that they are merely a recommendatory body and cannot ensure the execution of their recommendations.
Apeksha Priyadarshini, a member of students' organisation BASO and a councilor of the JNUSU, said that the committee or the concerned authorities must find a way to implement their recommendations. "The committee said that this was the last of their meeting with both the parties and that they will try to decide on something by Monday," she said. "They agreed to many of our rationale and demands. They took into account that the IHA meeting needs to reconvened, there needs to be dialogue between the administration and the students and they also took into account that we do not need a differential fee structure. But whatever be the discussion and the resulting recommendation it would be of no use if the VC does not accept it. We urged them to find a way to ensure that the recommendations are taken into consideration and implemented as soon as possible," she added.
As the committee met the students' representatives of the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Friday, slogans and demonstration by the students continued outside the Administrative Block. The meeting took place on the second floor of the block. The Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the university did not attend the meeting even though the students demanded that the VC should also be there. The ABVP had already boycotted the meeting and rejected the committee.
The protestors have been 'blockading' the ad block for the past two weeks and the authorities have not said whether there will be legal action taken against the students protesting there while the meeting is on. "All the office bearers and councillors of the JNUSU received an email from PK Singh, the Under Secretary of MHRD notifying us about the meeting," said JNUSU Vice-President Saket Moon. The JNUSU had called for the formation of a human chain from the North Gate to Freedom Square on campus at 2 pm. The students had last met the committee at Shastri Bhavan on November 20. The teachers' representative met with the committee as well on November 21 and told the committee that they thought the VC is at the root of every problem.
