JNUSU poll age relaxation plea: HC refuses to grant interim relief to student to contest election

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to grant interim relief to a student who sought permission to file his nomination and participate in the upcoming JNU Students' Union election till his petition to increase the maximum age to contest the poll is decided.

Justice Sachin Datta noted that the last date to file nominations was over and the election process has already begun. It is not possible to turn the clock back and allow the petitioner to contest the poll, he said. The date for filing the nomination for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election, which is scheduled to be held on March 22, was March 15. The result will be declared on March 24.

Petitioner Sudhanshu Shekhar had challenged the decision of the JNU vice chancellor rejecting his representation to enhance the maximum age to contest the students' union election by two years, as a one-time measure in view of the fact that the election was not conducted for more than four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The high court issued a notice and asked JNU to file a reply to the petition within four weeks.

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The plea, filed through advocates Azad Bansala and Prakriti Rastogi, said as a result of the pandemic, and for one reason or the other, despite several requests by student bodies, the election was not conducted for four consecutive years. It said merely due to the delay and lethargy on the part of the university, the petitioner, who otherwise was eligible to contest election in both the years, 2020 and 2022, lost the opportunity to contest and currently is barred by age to file his nominations as he 30 years and 6 months.

Due to no fault of his, the petitioner has surpassed the age bracket and hence, the university and the vice chancellor ought to have given an age relaxation, it said. The varsity issued a circular on March 7 reiterating the guidelines laid down by the Lyngdoh Committee and modified by the Supreme Court according to which the maximum age limit prescribed remained 30 years for the research scholars.