Last week, the Jawaharlal Nehru University students who attempted to register for the new academic session were shocked to find that the late fee on the portal was more than Rs 40,000. The portal opened on May 8. This caused a bit of panic and the Students' Union and other student bodies raised the issue on social media and also spoke to the administration. The varsity has now come up with a notice that defers the commencement of the registration process to May 16 but does not clarify what the issue was.
The notice from Registrar Dr Anirban Chakraborti, that came out on Sunday, May 9, said, "Jawaharlal Nehru University has not increased the semester registration fees for the students. The students' registration process has been put on hold till May 16, 2021, in view of the prevailing pandemic situation." But it did not comment on why the portal was demanding such a bizarre amount. Interestingly, nowhere in the release has JNU said there was a 'glitch'.
JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh said that the union would prefer to wait and let the administration take care of what the students have perceived as a glitch in the system. "The students who tried registering on the first day were also asked to pay a late fee in addition to the registration fees. We presumed that it was a glitch as Rs 42,000 is a ridiculous amount for a late fee and why would a late fee be there on the first day of registration," she explained. The 2019 fee hike protests started in JNU because the administration wanted to increase the hostel fees. The protests spread to other institutions as well and after mediations bore no significant results, the issue went to the Delhi High Court.
As far as the link to the 2019 fee hike protests is concerned, they were regarding the hostel fees, which is still sub-judice. We would expect that the administration will not interfere in that matter. We had highlighted this with the admin and they have brought out the notice deferring the date even though they did not say if it was a glitch," she said and added that the students should be vigilant if any such random fees are being charged and should approach the JNUSU before paying the fee.
Students group All India Students' Association (AISA) JNU unit's Secretary Madurima Kundu pointed out yet another issue. "It speaks volumes about the JNU administration's ineptitude when a website that deals with financial transactions and is maintained by them is found to be this porous and misleading especially when the campus is closed and the entire pedagogy and administrative functioning is going on online. Who would have taken responsibility in case of financial foul play?" she asked.
JNUTA Secretary Dr Moushumi Basu said that even though the university has issued a clarification, they should have been careful because the figure of Rs 40,000+ on display "can send shock waves to students".
The administration has not commented on the reason for the error yet.
