Disciplinary action in the offing against teachers who defied HC order JNU admin

    New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration Tuesday said "disciplinary proceedings" are in the pipeline against teachers who participated in a hunger strike last month and defied High Court orders.
     The JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA), however, said their protests are within the constitutional and legal framework.
     JNUTA office bearers appear to have learnt nothing from their last experience when they called for a 24-hour-long protest in front of the Administration Block, despite repeated cautionary notes sent to them to remind that there is a designated place for holding any such protests, the varsity said.
     "Disciplinary proceeding, in fact, is in the pipeline against a few teacher protesters who defied the Delhi High Court order as well as the university rules. As per the decision of the High Court, protest of any kind is prohibited within 100 meters of the Administration Building," it said.
     The varsity said the JNU rule also prohibits all kinds of protests in an area within 100 metres of the academic complexes, including the Dr BR Ambedkar Library.
     It expressed concern about the JNUTA "inciting the students to indulge in illegal activities of the kind" they have indulged in.
     "Such activities, particularly staging protests in prohibited areas of the campus in clear violation of university rules and court rulings, have adversely affected peace and stability in a campus that is known for its intellectual works," varsity's registrar Pramod Kumar said.
     On Monday, the students' association held a public meeting outside the Dr BR Ambedkar Library over library fund cuts.
     "A large number of students, faculty and even other stakeholders of the university seem to have been fed up with a handful of teacher and student activists who take up even trivial issues and twisted facts to disrupt peace just for their narrow political games," Kumar said.
     The JNU administration is always prepared to hold dialogue on any issue in a peaceful atmosphere at all appropriate levels of the administrative structure, he added.
     The JNUTA said all its protests are within the constitutional and legal framework.
     "No academic activities of JNU have been hindered as a result of teacher protests. The number of teachers supporting and participating in the activities of JNUTA is overwhelming," it said.
     The JNUTA said 89 per cent of JNU teachers have voted asking for removal of the vice-chancellor in a referendum in August 2018.
     "The continued protest and resistance by the JNU community is compelled by continuous destruction of teaching and learning in JNU in the recent years and proves the point that the current leadership of JNU is the most damaging academic leadership in the history of JNU," it said. PTI SLB AQS