The Delhi High Court has issued an order today (January 24, 2020) to the students who have not registered themselves for the new Academic year yet, to get registered under the old fees structure. The court is waiting for the response of the University on the plea of JNUSU regarding the amendments in hostel manual.
A bench consisting of Justice Rajiv Shakdher also issued notices to MHRD and UGC regarding the matter.
The plea is filed by JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh along with Saket Moon, Satish Chandra Yadav and Md Danish challenging the minutes of Inter Hostel Administration (IHA), jurisdiction of the high level committee and the recommendation made by it. The petition asks for the removal of Draft Hostel Manual "illegally approved by the IHA as the decisions taken by the IHA are malafide, arbitrary and illegal and adversely affect the students. It also claims that the amendments made in the hostel manual are contrary to the JNU Act, 1966.
The plea said that "The amendments include reducing JNUSU representation in IHA increased rates as applicable to hostel residents and also brought amendments to clauses of the Hostel Manual adversely affecting reserved category students in the University,.
Earlier the rent for single room and sharing room was Rs. 20 and Rs. 10 respectively. Now they have increased to Rs. 600 and Rs. 300 per month. The rent for BPL has also been increased to Rs. 150 and Rs. 300 for double occupancy and single occupancy respectively. Earlier there used to be no service charges but now they are charging BPL students Rs. 500 and other students Rs. 1000 for the services. They further added that mess services sanitation services, room charges, amongst others categories of charges will be increased by 10% every academic year.
JNUSU added, It is submitted that the criteria of 'Below Poverty Line' has not been provided in the Draft Hostel Manual. In fact, there is no clarity on the categorization required by the BPL and how the University has the requisite data to apply the BPL category to admitted students. No clarity has been even provided in the amended IHA on this issue.
The student body also added that they are the necessary invitee member of various committees according the JNU Act, 1966 but they had not been invited to the IHA committee meeting to discuss the hostel manual.
JNUSU wrote a letter dated December 27, 2019 to JNU Vice Chancellor to take cognizance of the situation and initiating dialogue. The Petitioners reiterated the directions of this Court and requested that a dialogue be started between the JNUSU and the VC/JNU administration regarding the Draft Hostel Manual. However, no response was forthcoming from the VC or the administration.
Author Aditi Dubey
