SC, ST teachers of JNU allege discrimination by administration

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration under vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, which has been under fire after the January 5 campus violence, has now been accused of discriminating against students and teachers belonging to SC and ST communities.

A delegation of SC and ST faculty members, which has put forward the charges, has requested Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan to take up the matter with the government. After meeting the faculty members, Paswan said their allegations were serious and should be looked into.

The faculty members told Paswan the recent hike in fee and reduction in seats have affected these underprivileged communities the most and that Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) teachers were not getting due promotions despite fulfilling the criteria.

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Teaching posts reserved from these communities have been left vacant even though able candidates are available, Paswan said quoting them. “The delegation’s charges are serious. Attention has to be paid to them,” he said.

However, JNU registrar denied the media reports, saying, “JNU admin strongly refutes media reports that there’s discrimination against members of JNU community belonging to SC/ST category. Such allegations have no evidence&are clearly made to vilify institution that has always stood for all marginalised section of society.”

In its memorandum, the delegation said SC and ST members of teaching and non-teaching staff and students have been facing discrimination from the JNU administration headed by vice-chancellor Kumar. The university has seen protests by its students’ union against the fee hike.

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(With inputs from agencies)