New Delhi: The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) met the HRD ministry-appointed high-powered panel on Thursday and demanded a complete rollback of the hiked hostel fee besides removal of the university’s vice-chancellor, even as some teachers disassociated themselves from the group owing to their “indifference” towards the alleged attack on their colleagues by protesters.
The three-member panel was constituted on Monday to recommend ways to restore normal functioning of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and mediate between the administration and students who have been protesting for over three weeks over the hostel fee hike.
“The HRD ministry panel met the JNUTA representatives which demanded a complete rollback of the hostel fee hike. In the meeting that lasted for over two hours, the teachers also demanded removal of the vice-chancellor,” sources said.
The panel will visit JNU campus on Friday to hold a second meeting with the students. The first meeting was held with JNU Students Union (JNUSU) office-bearers, student counsellors and hostel presidents on Wednesday at HRD ministry.
However, a section of JNU teachers accused the JNUTA of “being hand in glove” with the protesters. They alleged that the students had held a professor hostage for over 24 hours during fee-hike protests.
The agitation over hiked hostel fee escalated on November 11 when thousands of JNU students clashed with police, leaving HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ stranded for over six hours at the venue of the university’s convocation.
A week later, students staged a march from the university campus to HRD ministry but were stopped at multiple locations and finally outside the Safdarjung tomb. The protesters alleged that the police had lathicharged and manhandled them, including a blind student, which led to a fresh protest by a group of visually challenged students.
The mother of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed visited the university on Thursday and met the visually challenged student Shashi Bhushan Pandey at the campus and expressed solidarity with the cause of the protesting students.
