In a major relief for the teaching fraternity, the Delhi High Court has set aside Jamia Millia Islamia University’s 2022 orders dissolving the Jamia Teachers’ Association (JTA), terming the move unjustified.
The court’s decision restores the teachers’ body after three years, during which its office remained sealed and its members barred from accessing the association’s premises and finances. The ruling paves the way for the JTA’s general body to reconvene and reconstitute the association, which had been rendered defunct since its abrupt dissolution in November 2022.
Professor Majid Jameel, former president of the JTA, said, “This is a victory for all of us. We have been pursuing this case without a pause and after three years, finally we feel like winning the battle.”
“It’s a welcoming decision. It was the only university running without a teachers’ body, and it had happened because of the previous dictatorship and its unconstitutional decision of dissolving the teachers’ body. Now we will have a meeting to reconstitute the association with new executive committee members. Earlier, the JTA had over 600 members associated with it,” he added.
Talking about the students’ union in the varsity, which was banned in 2006, Professor Jameel said, “That case is still pending in the HC and there is no one to pursue it closely.”
It was in November 2022 that the university had issued a letter declaring the JTA elections null and void and further decided to dissolve the teachers’ association with immediate effect, citing the end of its term on May 15, 2022.
In another letter related to the matter, the university had also declared the suspension of Professor Sonya Surabhi Gupta, Returning Officer for the JTA elections 2022.
Court’s crucial findings
- Varsity’s action not justified under Article 19(4)
- Dissolution was administrative, lacked legal basis
- Unilateral revision of JTA constitution invalid
- Move violated teachers’ right to association
