JNU students fail to turn up for meet

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Friday stated that though it tried to initiate a dialogue with the student union members over the "pressing" issues of the varsity, none of them turned up for the meeting.

In a statement, JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar said: "The senior officials of the administration, including the Vice-Chancellor, waited for more than 40 minutes at the venue of the meeting, but none of the invited members of the JNUSU turned up on Friday."

"The JNU administration has always believed in peaceful dialogue and discussion with all the stakeholders of the JNU community, and expects them to turn up for a scheduled meeting and extend their cooperation," he added.

The student union members, however, said they took the decision to not come for the meeting after the administration did not invite JNUSU President Mohit Pandey. Pandey's admission was cancelled by the university after he refused to pay the "fines" levelled against him in connection with several internal inquiries. Most of the charges against him were related to participation in several protests on the campus.

"The JNU administration shamefully stops Pandey from attending the meeting. It's condemnable that the elected union President is physically stopped from entering the administrative building. We have communicated our stand that the JNUSU will not attend any meeting without its President," JNUSU General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty said.