JNU Protests: MHRD's high powered committee meets students

NEW DELHI: The "high powered committee" established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to restore "normalcy" in Jawaharlal Nehru University met students on Wednesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, the ministry announced through its official Twitter account that "the High Power Committee of MHRD met the JNU students today and took stock of views of students in a cordial meeting at Shastri Bhawan". There will be another meeting with students on Friday, on JNU campus "to find solutions to the current issues". A following post said that the committee had "appealed to the students to restore normalcy on the campus immediately for which the students responded positively".

The JNU Students Union, responding through their official twitter, said: "The JNUSU had a meeting with the MHRD HPEC. We would like to reiterate that there were no negotiations." They clarified that in order to restore normalcy to the campus all the decisions taken in the "illegal IHA meeting", which introduced the new hostel manual, should be completely rolled back. They further demanded that the committee should "ensure accountability of the JNU Vice-Chancellor and the dean of students" by "either recommending their resignation or constituting a visitorial enquiry".

On the same morning, protesters belonging to the JNU Visually Challenged Students' Forum were planning to demonstrate against the 'police brutality' on visually-challenged councillor, Sashibhushan Samad. Samad was beaten by the police on Monday, during the march. However, the bus carrying the protesters was stopped by the police. The group then protested in front of the Delhi Police Headquarters in ITO.

Meetings and protests

Meanwhile, The Indian Express reported that the JNU Vice-Chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar skipped a similar meeting with members of the university's administration held on Tuesday. The JNU Students' Union, too, had alleged at their Tuesday press meet that some university officials were refusing to meet the committee.

The "high powered committee" includes former University Grants Commission chairman, VS Chauhan, its present secretary, Rajnish Jain and the chairman of All India Council for Technical Education, Anil Sahasrabudhe.

The committee was formed to look into massive protests by students against the university administration that recently increased its hostel fees and imposed charges for utilities and services on students.

The day after the committee was formed, students started on a "long march" from campus to the Parliament and faced police action. Many were injured and dozens detained in what students alleged was "police brutality".

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