Delhi HC to hear JNU’s contempt plea against students

The varsity had said that JNU staff and Students Union (JNUSU) leaders be asked not to protest within 200 metres of the administrative block and the academic complexes as per the academic rules and regulations.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Friday moved the Delhi High Court claiming that its order asking students not to protest within 100 metres of the administrative block was being violated. The university’s plea, seeking contempt action against the students who allegedly violated the court order, was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar which allowed it to be listed for hearing on Friday.

JNU claimed that the ongoing protests in the university campus were in violation of the high court’s August 9, 2017 direction to students to not stage any agitation within 100 metres of the administrative block. Students on Thursday ‘gheraoed’ the administration block demanding a meeting with the vice-chancellor on the issue of compulsory attendance and stopped the rectors from leaving the building.

The court had on August 9, last year, asked the JNU students not to protest within 100 metres radius of the administrative block which houses several offices including that of the vice-chancellor. It had observed that the varsity had already earmarked a place for protest, therefore, the students should stage their ‘dharna’ at Sabarmati hostel lawns. The varsity had said that JNU staff and Students Union (JNUSU) leaders be asked not to protest within 200 metres of the administrative block and the academic complexes as per the academic rules and regulations.

The court had also asked the police to keep away from the university campus unless there was any evidence of disruption of law and order or in case of varsity seeking its assistance. The court’s last year order had come while hearing the JNU administration’s petition against the blocking of its administrative block by agitating students. The varsity had moved the high court when the students were protesting against the JNU’s admission policy based on a University Grants Commission notification slashing the seats for MPhil and PhD courses.

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