JNU adhering to reservation policy in admission and recruitment, says registrar after criticism

New Delhi: Responding to allegations of violation of reservation policy in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the administration on Tuesday said it was adhering to the policy, as prescribed in the constitution, in both admissions and recruitments. [caption id=“attachment_4353179” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the JNU campus. Image courtesy: JNU website.[/caption] The university also blamed its schools and centres for not providing information on vacancies despite repeated reminders. In a statement, JNU registrar Pramod Kumar said, “Reservation policy as per the constitution and related rules framed in parliament are followed in admissions as well as recruitments. Regarding vacant seats that could not be filled during previous year, it was clarified that the schools and centres did not provide complete information despite several reminders”. Responding to the claims, a faculty in the Centre for Linguistics, JNU — Ayesha Kidwai said, “The JNU administration did not listen to the centres on the intakes. Then it was their policy (50 percent cutoff, 100 percent viva, no relaxations for quota seats, no deprivation points etc) that kept seats vacant. If there were more seats, your policies would have just let those seats be vacant”. The JNU Students Union (JNUSU) had petitioned the Lok Sabha regarding the matter. Over 30 parliamentarians have written to Union HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar to look into the alleged violation of reservation policy at the varsity. The JNU Teachers Association had also announced that it would approach the president, the visitor of the varsity, and the prime minister, seeking their intervention in the matter.