Cannot intervene in administrative matters of universities, replies Irani

Irani said such intervention from her side could open a “Pandora’s box” and could be seen as an encroachment on the autonomy of the university.

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Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani (File photo)

HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Friday brushed aside suggestions that she should waive punishment and rustication of some students in Jawaharlal Nehru University, saying institutions were completely autonomous in administrative matters and she, as a minister, could not intervene in decisions taken by the university.

Irani said such intervention from her side could open a “Pandora’s box” and could be seen as an encroachment on the autonomy of the university. She was responding to a request from Congress MP Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu during her reply to a discussion on the functioning of the HRD Ministry.
Rapolu had pleaded that the minister should show “magnanimity” and waive punishment given to students in many universities.

“I can only say that though he wants me to be magnanimous as a minister, this minister is a mere mortal who is tied to the Acts passed by this very Parliament, and this Parliament does not allow me to intervene into the administrative matters of any university,” she said.

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Several students in JNU, including president of its student union Kanhaiya Kumar, were punished by the university for their alleged involvement in a protest during which slogans were reportedly raised against the death penalty given to Afzal Guru. Some students are currently on hunger strike protesting against the punishment given to them.

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“My request is that this is a Pandora’s box. I am sure that you (Rapolu) do not want to open it. My request is that we do not open it. Let the universities be autonomous enough to administer themselves. If there is a breach of law, bring it to our notice. As a secretariat of the honourable President, we will put it before him. He will advise us on the appropriate action, as the Visitor (to the university), to be taken on this issue,” Irani said.

The minister answered several queries from members and addressed a number of issues. She said there seemed to be a “phobia” among some members regarding the word “Sanskrit” and clarified that there was no move from the government to make any changes in the school curriculum.

“The IIT circular, which was debated a lot, if you look at that circular, all we have said is that if an institution wants to tap the scientific knowledge that is available only in Sanskrit language, it was free and autonomous to do so,” she said, citing the example of a Cornell University scholar who had travelled to India and written a paper on one of the oldest texts on geometry that was available only in Sanskrit.

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“Today, if you ask any student about the history of mathematics, that student is unlikely to tell you about the contribution made by this country in mathematics,” she said.

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