JNU invites teachers, students for meeting over attendance row

Following the spate of protests on its campus over the compulsory attendance issue, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Sunday invited members from both the teachers and the students' fraternity for a meeting to discuss several "pressing issues" related to the university.

According to a notice issued by JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar, members of both JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) and Teachers Association (JNUTA) were asked to attend the meeting on Thursday and Friday, respectively. "JNU administration invites JNUSU president and general secretary to be part of the meeting to discuss various important issues in the university. The meeting will be held in room number 225 of the administrative building from 9:30 am to 10 am on Friday, 23rd February, 2018," the letter reads.

The move is followed by JNUTA's call to launch "akrosh dharna" against the administration on Monday and JNUSU's announcement of taking to the ministry of human resource development on Tuesday.

JNU has been simmering ever since the varsity notified a new attendance policy. On Thursday, the students had allegedly confined the university's administrative block for almost 15 hours over the issue. On Friday, FIRs were registered against JNUSU members for "wrongful restraint". Also, the Delhi High Court had issued an interim order directing them to not obstruct the entry or exit of officials.