JNU cancels hostel administration meeting after students protest fee hike, dress code

The draft was to be passed today but the administration has decided to adjourn the meeting after several students turned up and protested
The students protesting against IHA meeting today
The students protesting against IHA meeting today

Hordes of students in JNU went on a protest outside the venue of the Inter-Hall Administration (IHA) meeting on Monday after the JNUSU was not invited for it. The JNUSU had been issuing statements and protesting ever since the last meeting where the new IHA draft included clauses that were not acceptable to the students including an exorbitant hikes in fees. The draft was to be passed today but the administration finally decided to adjourn the meeting.

Only three hostel representatives were allegedly allowed inside today and nobody else was allowed to enter. This was despite the students protesting over the last few weeks against the new IHA draft and demanding fair representation. The JNUSU had invited students to join the protest to stop the meeting from happening today calling it 'illegal'. Subsequently, a large number of students turned up at the meeting and protested demanding that the students be included in the decision making. The administration has now adjourned the meeting and Dean of Students, Umesh Kadam is currently sitting with the JNUSU.

Aishe Ghosh, President of the JNUSU said that they have not yet been informed about when the meeting has been adjourned to. "Nothing has been signed yet, so we are just waiting here. We want them to accept our demands, first of which is that students should decide the draft — Hostel General Body Meetings have to be conducted and according to their conclusions, the IHA should be drafted. Secondly, JNUSU should be included in the meetings," Aishe said. 

"The draft IHA manual seeks to hike our fees exorbitantly and privatise our hostel services, it seeks to levy fines on us for protesting, monitor our movement through curfews and our bodies through dress codes. The admin plans to pit the student community against the karamcharis by directly linking their pay with our fees when the university is supposed to be their employer," the JNUSU said in a statement.

The draft has suggested the enforcement of dress codes in hostels. Secondly, the threat of hostel eviction, withdrawal of degree and even rustication for students who choose to protest. Late fine for mess dues was also supposed to be increased by twenty times due and the failure to pay would also lead to eviction. The students were also protesting the alleged disappearance of the reservation policy from the hostel manual and arbitrary increases in all fines. Another recommendation that the draft had made was to link the salary of the mess workers to the mess bill.

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