JNU still far from student union polls
The stalemate over Jawarharlal Lal Nehru University students’ union election continues with the Supreme Court on Monday refusing to relax the recommendations of Lyngdoh committee guidelines on student elections in colleges.
The stalemate over Jawarharlal Lal Nehru University students’ union election continues with the Supreme Court on Monday refusing to relax the recommendations of Lyngdoh committee guidelines on student elections in colleges.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan initially agreed to deviate from the guidelines and had permitted elections to take place in JNU by relaxing the upper age limit of 28 years and doing away with the restriction on the number of chance for candidates to contest the polls.
But when JNUSU counsel Sanjay Parikh objected to elections taking place in accordance with the remaining guidelines of the Lyngdoh committee, the bench declined to pass the order and adjourned the case to July.
Parikh argued that JNUSU would conduct elections as per the university rules and regulations, which also form the basis of the Lyngdoh committee report.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, assisting the court in the matter, however, favoured adherence to the Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendation in toto.
Parikh opposed Subramanium’s contention and said if the recommendations were accepted in full, the very “edifice” on which the elections are held would be lost.
He said, “The model adopted by JNU for its students union election has been praised by the Lyngdoh committee also, as it is free from money and muscle power.”
“We will not pass any order now and hear the matter in July,” the court said, when the contesting parties failed to reach a consensus for holding elections in the university.
The elections to JNU’s students’ union was stayed by the apex court in October 2008 after Subramanium had moved an application in 2007 stating that two conditions — upper age limit of 28 years and one chance for contesting the elections — recommended by the Lyngdoh Committee were violated in JNU.
