NEW DELHI: Nearly 45 days after students went on a protest against the proposed hostel fee hike, JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar on Thursday met with their representatives for a discussion on their demands.
As a large number of students boycotted exams in protest against the hike, the Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala appealed to the JNUSU delegation to call off the strike in the interest of thousands of students. The meeting was also attended by three Rectors, Registrar and Associate Deans of Students.
Among the student representatives were JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and four presidential candidates Priyanka Bharti, Prashant Kumar, Jitendra Suna and Raghavendra Mishra. ABVP’s Manish Jangid didn’t attend the meeting.
“He (Vice-Chancellor) requested the student leaders to talk to their fellow students so that the normal academic activities including the conduct of examinations are resumed without any further delay,” the JNU administration said. “The VC ended the meeting with an appeal to call off the strike in the interest of thousands of students.”
In another meeting, Kumar met with hostel presidents. “First, they tried to convince us how the utility charges are justified. Then, we demanded a complete roll back of new hostel manual and a fresh IHA meeting to be held in a democratic manner. We said that students won’t pay a single paisa. He did not reply to our demands,” the hostel presidents said.
“The VC said the 28 Oct IHA meeting was legitimate. He also justified the 13 Oct EC meeting. We did not agree to such justifications. (Dean of Students) Umesh Kadam was adamant that he will not notify the JNUSU. The VC wanted the Yamuna hostel (fully privatised) model to be applied to all the hostels. We rejected such proposals. Nothing conclusive came out from the administration side. When the hostel presidents started to ask the VC tough questions, he concluded the meeting and ran away,” they added.