In a message to the JNU community, the Registrar of the university has warned its students and office bearers against disturbing the environment of the campus and urged that they allow classes to be conducted without any hindrance. The letter has alleged that some students and office bearers were preventing their colleagues from attending classes and blocking the main road of the campus.
Students had recently intensified their protest against the compulsory attendance rule which made attending 75% of the classes mandatory for them failing which they would be debarred from appearing for examinations and denied fellowships.
In a statement, the JNUSU said, “JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar has been trying to destroy JNU through seat cuts, the decimation of deprivation points and reservations, bid to delink MPhil-PhD and BA-MA, scrapping of GSCASH and now with the illegal imposition of compulsory attendance. He is trying to destroy the academic excellence of the university.”
The Registrar has raised objections to the protests citing a High Court order that prohibits protests within a 100-meter radius of the administrative block. In the letter, the Registrar stated, “There are some students, who have not only been non-compliant of the rules but have also been preventing fellow students from attending classes… and, worse, by blocking the main road for days together.” The statement further said, “It is even more unfortunate that during the protest demonstrations on February 10, some students went to the extent of damaging university property at the administrative block.”