Students can face a fine of Rs 20,000 and cancellation of admission for staging a sit-in or up to Rs 30,000 for resorting to violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University, its latest rules set out.
The 10-page ‘Rules of Discipline and Proper Conduct of JNU Students’ provide for punishment for various types of acts such as protest and forgery and the procedure for proctorial inquiry and recording of statements.
According to the document, the rules came into effect on February 3. It came after the university saw a number of protests over the screening of a BBC documentary.
The rules document states that it has been approved by the Executive Council, which is the highest decision-making body of the university. However, members of the executive council told PTI that the issue was brought up as an additional agenda item and mentioned that the document has been prepared for “court cases”.
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s JNU secretary Vikas Patel termed the new rules as “authoritarian (‘tughlaqi’)”, while claiming that the old code of conduct was sufficiently effective. He demanded withdrawal of this “harsh” code of conduct.
JNU Vice Chancellor Santashree D Pandit did not respond to texts and calls from PTI seeking her comment.
The document states that the rules will apply to all students of the university, including part-time students, whether admitted before or after the commencement of these rules.
Penalties are listed for 17 “offences”, which include obstruction, indulging in gambling, unauthorized occupation of hostel rooms, using abusive and abusive language, and forgery. The rules also mention that a copy of the complaints will be sent to the parents.
Matters involving both teachers and students may be referred to the University, School and Center level Grievance Redressal Committee. Cases of sexual harassment, molestation, ragging and those causing communal disharmony come under the purview of the office of the Chief Proctor.
Chief Proctor Rajneesh Mishra told PTI, “The rules were mentioned in the law. However, new rules have been made after proctorial scrutiny.” He did not specify when this proctorial scrutiny began and when asked whether the old rules have been amended, he replied in the affirmative.
It has proposed punishment for all acts of violence and coercion such as gherao, picketing or any disturbance that disrupts normal academic and administrative functioning and/or any act that incites or leads to violence Is.
Penalties include “cancellation of admission or withdrawal of degree or refusal of registration for a specified period, expulsion up to four semesters and/or declaring any part or the whole of the JNU campus out-of-bounds, expulsion, fine up to Rs 30,000″. As per the old rules, one/two semesters of eviction from the hostel”.
If the matter is sub-judice, the Chief Proctor’s Office will take action as per the order and direction of the Hon’ble Court, the rules state.
For hunger strike, picketing, group bargaining and any other form of protest by blocking the entry or exit of any academic and/or administrative premises or by obstructing the movements of any member of the University community, there will be a fine of up to Rs.20,000. To be applied
As per the old rules, the punishments proposed for gheraos, demonstrations and sexual harassment were cancellation of admission, expulsion and expulsion.
The statute states that the university has a proctorial system where all acts of indiscipline are entrusted with the administration of student-related matters to the Chief Proctor. He and she are assisted by the proctor. The size of the Proctorial Board is decided by the competent authority.
Once the complaint is received, it will be investigated by the Chief Proctor who will set up a proctorial inquiry.
“Thereafter, either a one/two/three member Proctorial Inquiry Committee to make a thorough inquiry into the matter. The proctorial inquiry is an internal inquiry of JNU and hence no person other than the members of the Board is allowed to be present during the hearing.
“Accused or complainant is not allowed to be represented by third parties. Similarly, he may not have an observer during the process of questioning,” the document reads.
A member of the executive council, who did not wish to be named, said the matter was not discussed in detail at the EC meeting and “we were told that rules have been made for court cases”.
Brahm Prakash Singh, another member of the executive council, said: “The university may have planned to streamline the process and prepare a complete document, but it should have been properly discussed in the EC meeting.” ABVP’s JNU secretary Vikas Patel said, “There is no need for this new authoritarian (‘Tughlaqi’) code of conduct; the old code of conduct was effective enough.
“Instead of focusing on improving security, safety and order, the JNU administration has imposed this draconian code of conduct without any discussion with the stakeholders, especially the student community. We demand its rollback.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)