Members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) demanded the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor instead of granting a second term to M. Jagadesh Kumar, who remained in office following directions of the government, said the JNUTA on March 1, 2021 at the Press Club of India.
Although Kumar’s term ended on January 26, the Education Ministry allowed him to hold office until a successor was appointed. However, as his extended tenure continues for nearly a month, the JNUTA alleged that Kumar enjoyed an autonomy that proves to be detrimental to the “unique character of the university.” The association claimed that the current administration has been undermining the university structure over the last five years and that further delay would only worsen the situation.
JNUTA Secretary Moushumi Basu told NDTV, “It is upto the government to decide who will be appointed next. But our complaint is against the inaction of the Ministry. They give JNU first ranking and then call it a ‘public enemy’ and make academic cuts. Till today, no investigation has been called regarding the January 5 incident when goons attacked students and teachers. So, if JNU is being treated like this, imagine what is happening to higher education?”
Since 2016, Kumar received nearly 150 legal cases from faculty members, students, and non-teaching staff. According to Basu, a majority of these cases found that the university administration committed illegality. On the other hand, Kumar issued show-cause notices against 48 faculty members in 2018 for taking part in a protest on the campus, said DU Updates.
Another concern of the teachers was the series of “arbitrary” decisions by Kumar that “deliberately weakened” the existing system of academic governance such as appointment of chairpersons of centres, deans of schools, selection committee experts without informing centres, changes in roster for reserved posts in faculty recruitment, introduction of new programmes and schools without prior deliberations with faculty, and “below average” infrastructural preparation including faculty.
Accordingly, Professor D. K. Lobiyal said that the current administration had “no regard for social justice” adding that it had reduced financial allocations for academic activities. Such reductions have “fundamentally damaged” academic functioning.
“The sharp decline in plan grants from both UGC and Government of India, coupled with reduction in expenditures on academic programmes supporting teaching and research within the university, along with wasteful diversion of funds for non-academic activities posed a significant challenge that compromised greatly the functioning of the university,” said members.
Citing financial reports, they noted that the annual academic expenses decreased by 26.38 percent from RS. 38.36 crore in 2017-18 to RS. 28.24 crore in 2018-19, and by another 30 per cent to Rs. 19.74 crore in 2019-20. Meanwhile, legal expenses increased from Rs. 2.72 lakh in 2017-18 to Rs. 17.7 lakh in 20-18-19. The JNUTA said an additional fund of RS. 30 lakh was approved for legal expenses in 2020 to the already sanctioned budget of Rs. 9 lakh.
Further, teachers accused Kumar of an “unprecedented attack on faculty” by trying to impose Central Civil Services (CCS) rules, denying promotions and counting past services for teachers, denying leaves, biometric attendance and stopping pensions.
To make matters worse, the Times of India reported that, for the first time, JNU teachers have not received their monthly salary. According to reports, the university is still waiting for funds from the University Grants Commission. However, teachers claimed a lot of money was used from the corpus fund meant for holding events.
Currently, JNU is among many central educational institutions that are working without a regular vice-chancellor or director such as IITs at Indore, Mandi, Patna, and Bhubaneswar and Delhi University.
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