The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Wednesday accused the varsity’s students of forcing hostel provosts to sign resignation letters by confining them. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) circulated some resignation letters and other letters apparently written by hostel provosts raising objections to the Draft Hostel Manual approved by the Inter-Hall Administration of the varsity.
The students have been on a strike against the hostel manual, which they claim has provisions for fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.
In a notice posted on its website on Thursday, the varsity said, “This is to inform all concerned that the JNU students on strike have forcibly made three provosts resign from their office on a pre-drafted document and made two provosts reject the proposed hostel manual issued by the IHA. “Such acts by students of a leading university of the country are outright condemnable,” it said.
The varsity clarified none of the provosts have actually resigned and none of them have rejected the proposed hostel manual.
“By confining the provosts, who had visited hostels to discuss students’ concerns related to proposed hostel manual, shouting offensive slogans, and blackmailing them to sign on the dotted line of pre-drafted papers of resignation/rejection, the concerned students have done something illegal, immoral and brought bad name to the university,” the varsity said.
JNU general secretary Satish Chandra Yadav said, “The hostel provosts held meetings with hostel presidents on Wednesday and we spoke to them at the meeting. We convinced them that the hostel manual should not be accepted and two of them voluntarily decided to resign while others expressed their disagreement with it.” He denied that they forced the provosts to do anything. “We had offered them an option to either resign or reject the hostel manual but we did not confine them. They had the option to walk out if they were not convinced,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}JNU general secretary Satish Chandra Yadav said, “The hostel provosts held meetings with hostel presidents on Wednesday and we spoke to them at the meeting. We convinced them that the hostel manual should not be accepted and two of them voluntarily decided to resign while others expressed their disagreement with it.” He denied that they forced the provosts to do anything. “We had offered them an option to either resign or reject the hostel manual but we did not confine them. They had the option to walk out if they were not convinced,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The hostels in JNU are divided into five khands or blocks -- Poorvanchal, Dakshinapuram, Uttarakhand, Paschimabad I and II. Each khand has three or four hostels and is under the supervision of a provost. The provosts look after the affairs of their respective khands and advise wardens on matters concerning their functions.