JNU Executive Council plans to set up satellite campus outside Delhi

New Delhi: The Executive Council (EC) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University passed a resolution Monday to explore the feasibility of setting up a satellite campus outside the national Capital, the institution said.

The JNU administration also said Central Civil Services rules (CCS) have not been incorporated in the JNU ordinances. The decision was hailed by the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) that has been protesting the proposed move saying it would scuttle their freedom to express dissent.

The EC authorised the vice-chancellor to form a committee to examine the feasibility of setting up a satellite campus outside the national capital and recommend measures in this regard, JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar said.

"The Jawaharlal Nehru University Act, 1966 empowers the university to establish within the Union Territory of Delhi or outside that territory such special centres and specialised laboratories and other units for research and instruction as are necessary for the furtherance

of its objects," he said.

The committee will explore a probable location for the campus, the programmes that will be run and the financial feasibility, he added.

The satellite campus will focus on professional courses which are self-sustainable and there is a plan to have a bio-incubator and industry-funded labs on the campus and the varsity would explore the possibility of financial support from various sources, Kumar said.

Amid allegations by the JNUSU that the CCS rules have already been implemented, the vice-chancellor also confirmed that no such rules have been incorporated in the JNU ordinances. However, the process of framing conduct rules will be expedited, the EC decided.

"The JNU Executive Council resolved to expedite the process of framing of conduct rules for teaching and non-teaching employees and the vice-chancellor underlined the fact that a committee in charge of framing such rules had already been set up," the registrar said.