Big Victory for JNUSU, Delhi High Court allows protesting students to follow old hostel manual, waves off late fee

This is the first big relief to the protesting students since October 28, 2019.

In a major relief to the protesting students of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Friday, the Delhi High Court allowed the remaining students to register as per the old hostel manual and without any late fee. The court also issued notice to JNU administration on a please filed by JNUSU challenging the legality of the new hostel manual implemented by the university. 

"As far as the remaining about 10 percent of students are concerned, they need to register within one week as per the old manual. No late fee will be charged from them too," said Delhi High Court on Friday providing interim relief to the students. JNUSU has alleged that the decision of the Inter Hostel Administration amending the hostel manual was violative to the JNU constitution and norms. The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed to February 28. According to JNUSU, the IHA passed the orders without giving an opportunity to the students' union to present its view. 

Plea of JNUSU challenging IHA decision amending the hostel manual: Delhi HC grants interim relief to students of JNU. "As far as the remaining 10% students are concerned, they need to register within 1 week as per old manual. No late fee will be charged from them too", HC said. pic.twitter.com/ggdwZ7ABZQ

— ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2020

The decision of Delhi High is being seen as a first and big victory for protesting students of the JNU. In the appeal, the students had requested to quash the new hostel manual and allow them to register as per 'old rates without late fines'. According to the order, the remaining 10 percent of students will be allowed to register as per the old fee structure. The JNUSU has also demanded the court to "annul and completely quash all punitive actions on students who have been struggling against the exorbitant fee hike". These demands also include quashing criminal cases against the protesting JNU students which has been a controversial issued between JNU administration and JNUSU. The university administration has set January 17 as the last date of registration without a late fee. Thereafter, Rs 100 per day was imposed as a late fee which was to increase to Rs 200 and Rs 500 per day. According to JNU administration, about 82 percent of students had registered without a late fee but the remaining 12 percent were buycotted the registration process. 

The movement against the hostel fee hike converted into a full-scale battle between JNUSU and Vice-Chancellor after violence by masked goons on the campus on January 5. This led to direct confrontation between the union and VC Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar in which later saying only a handful of students were creating the problems while students pressed for removal or sacking of Kumar. The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) has also demanded to remove the VC as a minimum requirement to restore normalcy in the campus.