Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim relief to the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and directed that they need to register for the winter session within one week as per the old manual and that no late fee is to be charged.
Observing that 90 per cent of the students have already registered, Justice Rajiv Shakdar said, "As the remaining 10 per cent students are concerned, they need to register within one week as per the old manual. No late fee will be charged from them."
Justice Shakdar was hearing a petition filed by the students' union of the varsity (JNUSU) challenging the decision to amend the Hostel Manual contending that it is "malafide, arbitrary, illegal and adversely affects the student community".
The court also made the Central government, through the Ministry of Human Resource Development and University Grants Commission (UGC), a party to the case.
The court issued notices to the respondents in the case and granted two weeks' time for them to file a reply and slated the matter for the next hearing on February 28.
Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for JNUSU, told the court that the old hostel manual was altered in a nutshell without consulting the representatives of the student body.
Sibal said that a bunch of students had paid the increased fee in fear and dictat as the varsity ruled that the services would be withdrawn otherwise.
He said that prior to Oct 2019, the president and convener were members of the IHA.
On the other hand, Additional Solicitor-General Pinky Anand said that services and utility charges were waived by the UGC as per Jan 9, 2020 circular.
Sibal said that no definition of the reserved category has been issued by the varsity administration.
The petition had challenged the amendments including an increase in hostel fee, affecting the rights of those in reserved categories like allocation of hostel rooms, and reduced representation of JNUSU in the IHA amongst other changes.
( With inputs from ANI )