Jamia Vice Chancellor calls for need to examine feasibility of student union

Amid demands for an elected students union, Jamia Millia Islamia's first woman vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar Friday said there is a need to consider the pros and cons behind the absence of such a body. The varsity's students have been repeatedly demanding elections for a students' union ever since they were "banned" in the university in 2006 after the then union allegedly "started interfering with the administrative matters of the institution".

"Student representation is very necessary but whether it is necessary politically has to be seen. "Something (the absence of a students' union) which has been there for 12 years... its advantages and disadvantages have to be looked into," she said, after assuming charge.

The last time the university went to polls to elect a new students' body was in December 2005. The university had dissolved the elected body within four months of the taking over charge in March 2006.

Challenging the university directive, three students had moved the Delhi High Court in 2011 and the matter is still pending. Akhtar assumed charge of the varsity on Friday, a day after the HRD Ministry announced her appointment following a green signal from the Election Commission as the Model Code of Conduct is in place.

(With inputs from agencies.)