Granting leeway to the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the administration declared today, Monday, November 6, that it will not impose any fine on students who were part of the 2019 protests, against the fee hike at the administrative block of the university, as per PTI reports.
JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Pandit told PTI that the university will withdraw all the notices issued against the protesting students who were embroiled in the matter.
She said, "The competent authority of the university has decided not to impose a fine on students who were found to be involved in the 2019 protest."
Looking back in time
Protests had erupted in JNU in the year 2019 after the administration had announced a hike in hostel fees. The students had demanded the withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, in which, service charges of Rs 1,700 were introduced and the one-time mess security fee, which is refundable, hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000.
Other increments were also witnessed when the rent for a single-seater room was increased from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, while the rent for a double-seater room was increased from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month.
The students affiliated to several political and student organisations demanded the rollback of the hike introduced. They also staged demonstrations at the administrative block of the university that houses the vice-chancellor's office, which is prohibited as protesting within 100 meters of the block has been deemed punishable according to an order by the Delhi High Court.
Further agitations were also held outside the campus, where students surrounded the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) building which is the venue for the varsity's convocation, during which, former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal was stuck for six hours, due to the students' protest.
