JNUTA to seek President Droupadi Murmu's intervention on promotion irregularities

NEW DELHI: The JNUTA plans to approach Jawaharlal Nehru University's Chancellor Kanwal Sibal, and President Droupadi Murmu for their intervention in addressing the "delay and denial" of promotions to several faculty members, it announced on Saturday. The alleged delay in promotions has been a longstanding issue for the teachers' body and it has held several protests on the issue.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association ( JNUTA ) intends to submit a statement of charges to the chancellor and the president -- who is also the Visitor of the university -- and urge them to raise the matter in Parliament, association president Moushumi Basu said.

She said the statement of charges would outline six key concerns -- the growing backlog of promotions due to the delay, suspension of promotions without explanation, denial of service benefits during promotions, irregularities in appointments, favouritism in promotions, and a lack of transparency in the promotion process.

Promotions and appointments under the University Grants Commission's Career Advancement Scheme have been a point of contention between the JNUTA and the university administration for a long time. On Friday, the JNUTA presented its grievances to some members of the university's executive council -- the institution's highest decision-making body -- during a faculty assembly.

"Although the JNUTA had extended invitations to all members of the Executive Council, including the chair, to be present at the assembly and respond to the charges … the only members who accepted were the elected teachers' representatives," the association had said in a statement. "...because the (JNU) administration has never allowed (the Executive Council to safeguard the interest of JNUTA) despite the serious observations of the high court on such a practice. We will now submit this statement of charges before the chancellor of the university and the visitor," the teachers' body said.

The JNUTA on August 12 observed a 24-hour hunger strike on the issue. The faculty assembly was organised as a follow-up to the hunger strike, it said.