NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration has issued list of pending mess dues from hostel residents, amounting to over Rs 2.79 crore, a move JNUSU vice-president Saket Moon claimed is an attempt to threaten students.
The institution is currently witnessing a student strike over the issue of a proposed hostel fee hike.
The details of pending dues from hostel residents were released on November 20 by the assistant registrar of Inter-Hall Administration.
According to the details issued, mess dues from July to October from 17 hostels stand at Rs 2,79,33,874.
Over Rs 44 lakh is pending from the month of July, while dues of August stand at Rs 55 lakh.
The mess dues pending from September and October amount to Rs 73,71,808 and Rs 1,13,95,634 respectively.
Asked about the circular, Dean of students Umesh Kadam said, "The hostel mess is run on a no-profit, no-loss basis.
How are we supposed to run them when we have close to Rs three crore pending dues?" According to an official, earlier, hostel rooms were double-locked in case a student did not pay the mess dues but the practice has been discontinued.
Moon said the fellowships through which a majority of JNU students pay their dues never come on time, they are disbursed once in either three or six months.
"If the UGC and the JNU administration ensure that these are timely, these dues would not accumulate," he said The JNU administration has brought out this notice fully aware of this reality, and thus, this is nothing more than an attempt to threaten students, he added.