The Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Inter Hostel Administration (IHA) decision amending the hostel manual that, among other issues, increased the hostel fee.
The petition filed by JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh has sought quashing of the minutes of the 283rd meeting of the Executive Council (EC) held on November 13 last year ratifying the IHA decision and the high-level committee of November 25, 2019, making further amendments to the hostel manual.
The petition said the “decisions are malafide, arbitrary and illegal and adversely affect the student community of the University, bringing far-reaching changes to the provisions of the hostel manual”.
The amendments to the manual include an increase in hostel fee, affecting the rights of those in reserved categories vis-à-vis allocation of hostel rooms and also reduce the representation of the JNUSU in the IHA, among several other changes.
The petition pointed out that the minutes of the meeting also stated that mess services, sanitation services, room charges, among other category of charges, will be increased by 10% every academic year from the monsoon semester.
The students’ union further contended that the IHA was held with no student representation, “defeating the mandate of the hostel manual of including the views of the stakeholders when changing the provisions of the manual”.
Subsequent to the amendments, JNUSU and hostel presidents wrote to the JNU administration on various occasions bringing to their attention the illegalities. “However, the University refused to take any action and in fact allowed the ratification of this illegal meeting,” the petition stated.
It had asked the High Court to quash the decisions of the IHA dated and reconvene a fresh IHA as per law.
