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The Delhi High Court Thursday landed a blow to JNU students as it dismissed their petition against the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) gazette notification of May 2016.
In his 37-page verdict, Justice V Kameswar Rao said after the UGC framed the regulations, the university was mandated to follow it. Dismissing the petition as infructuous as it had no merit, the judge said, “The Academic Council And Executive Council are necessarily to adopt the regulations in the University Ordinance without any deviation.”
After the UGC enforced the new rules, massive protests had rocked the campus with students calling it an anti-student move.
Counsel for the students, Arvind Nigam, said the students did not challenge the new rules but only its adoption and implementation. “The university did not have clarity on the UGC notification. So in the absence of clarifications, admissions were not finalised by the academic council. Without receiving a final report by the academic council, the executive council had taken decisions. This was in violation of the established procedure. So the high court could set aside the admission policy dated February, 11, 2017,” Nigam said.
Counsel for JNU, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta and advocate Monika Arora, said the notification was applicable to every university. “The new rules would not interfere with the present reservation policy, nor would it affect the existing students. The regulations, including the cap and weightage of marks, were not subject to being adopted or accepted. The academic and executive council are… to adopt the regulations in the university ordinance without any deviation,” Mehta said.
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