JNU fee hike: HRD panel to take final call on Monday
Students to continue their protests until their demands are met
New Delhi: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)-appointed high-powered committee that held its second meeting with the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Friday, have confirmed they will give the final decision over fee hike issue on Monday. Meanwhile, the students' union has asserted that they will continue their protests till their demands are met.
The committee has conveyed that this is the last time they are holding a meeting with the students, and whatever decision will be recommended by them will be announced to the students on Monday.
In the meeting, the committee proposed a different fee structure, which the students refused stating that they will only accept "one fee structure". In a statement, after the meeting, JNUSU said, "We have clearly said, that we are protesting with the clear demand that we won't accept any negotiation of a single rupee. We want complete rollback of the fees. Different fee structure will create differences between students."
MHRD, which held its first meeting on Wednesday and requested the students to restore normalcy inside the campus, to which JNUSU said that the situation is normal in the university. However, they added that no concrete results are expected from the MHRD committee.
"We don't have high hopes with the committee but still we have come to depose before them," said JNUSU. The committee has also held various meetings with JNU teachers and dean of students, discussing the issue.
Meanwhile, JNU students also formed a human chain inside the university campus to demand complete rollback of fee hike, ahead of the committee's visit, to the varsity, due to which the panel members had to enter the university from another gate. The students will also be organising a citizens' march from Mandi House to the Parliament on Saturday. "We will continue with Saturday's protest. And we have conveyed to the MHRD panel that we won't take any dictat from the ministry," said a statement from JNUSU.
Tussle between JNUSU and the administration over the fee hike, included in the new hostel manual has been going over for three weeks now. Amid heavy protests, MHRD had set up a three-member committee consisting of former UGC chairman V S Chauhan, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe and UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, to tackle the issue.
