JNUTA holds protest march against ouster of Professor

Jawaharlal Nehru University Teacher’s Association (JNUTA) on Thursday organised a protest march in the campus against the suspension of Ashish Agnihotri, an Associate Professor, who was suspended on July 25 on allegations of financial irregularities and fraud.

“JNUTA teachers marched to express our views to the Vice-Chancellor. However, he was out of town. So we met the pro-chancellor and expressed our strong protest at the action and demand immediate revocation of the suspension order and a dignified settlement of the matter,” said Ajay Patnaik, president of JNUTA.

Agnihotri was given suspension letter on July 25 for allegedly wrongly showing his retired father’s income less than Rs 3,500 to get reimbursement for his medical and air travel expenses from JNU. 

Agnihotri is an Associate Professor in Centre for French & Francophone Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies and the vice-president of JNUTA. 

General body meeting (GBM) of JNUTA held on July 26 called the suspension completely disproportionate and unnecessary. 

“Over the last few months, we have witnessed a concerted effort on the part of the current JNU administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor to undermine JNU’s democratic culture and to put in place a centralised and authoritarian system of functioning. Both students as well as faculty members have been targeted in this process even as these moves have been spiritedly resisted. The latest step of the administration in this direction is the shocking and completely unwarranted decision of the V-C to suspend a faculty member,” stated the resolution of the GBM.