JNU admin dismisses allegations of discrimination against SC, ST students and teachers

The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Saturday dismissed the allegations that it is discriminating against members of the JNU community belonging to the SC and ST category and said it has always stood for them. A delegation of JNU faculty members from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities accused the university administration of discrimination against teachers and students from these underprivileged sections and requested Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan to take up the matter with the government.

The statement by the varsity came after the delegation's meeting with Paswan. "Administration strongly refutes some media reports that there is discrimination against members of the JNU community belonging to the SC/ST category. Such allegations have no evidence and are clearly made to vilify an institution that has always stood for all marginalized sections of the society," the varsity's Registrar Pramod Kumar said.

Jawaharlal Nehru University's admission policy and practice have successfully given every opportunity and relaxation to SC/ST students while seeking to fill up the vacant seats, he said. All SC/ST candidates who qualify in the written examination in the entrance test are called for viva voce without shortlisting, Kumar said.

"In the hostel allotment every year, the first step has invariably been to allot rooms to SC/ST students," he said. While all SC/ST posts have been filled up in the non-teaching staff category, full-speed efforts are being made by the administration to fill up the vacant teaching posts, Kumar said.

The university also started a special drive to fulfill the backlogs in SC/ST teaching positions in the recent past, he added. The teachers told Paswan that the recent hike in fee and reduction in seats has affected these underprivileged communities the most and that SC and ST teachers were not getting due promotions despite fulfilling the criteria.

Teaching posts reserved from these communities have been left vacant even though able candidates are available, Paswan said quoting them. In its memorandum, the delegation of teachers said SC and ST members of the teaching and non-teaching staff and students have been facing discrimination from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration, headed by Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar.

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