With the ongoing protests at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), turning into an ugly spat between the students and the administration, it is now the bone of contention, the fee hike, that has got justified. The university administration has defended its decision of revising hostel fee by saying that it has a shortage of more than Rs 45 crore due to huge electricity , water charges and salary of contractual staff and that is the reason why this hike is essential.
“The University has a deficit of more than Rs 45 crore because of huge electricity and water charges and salary of contractual staff,” JNU on Thursday said in a statement, adding that there is a “misinformation” campaign being run in the name of hostel fee hike.
“In reality, service charges are being levied, which have been zero so far. For sustainability of the university budget which has run into a huge deficit, it is necessary to levy the service charges in the hostel,” the university said.
The UGC no longer allows payments of salaries of contractual employees of the hostel from the salary head of the budget. The number of such employees in the hostels is over 450. The UGC has given clear instructions to JNU that all shortfalls in the non-salary expenditures should be met by using the internal receipts generated by the university. Thus, there is no alternative for the IHA than to collect service charges from the students
“The UGC has given clear instructions to JNU that all shortfalls in the non-salary expenditures should be met by using the internal receipts generated by the University. Thus, there is no alternative for the IHA than to collect service charges from the students,” the statement read.
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The statement touched upon the fee structure also. The university had hiked the double room rent from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month, single room from Rs 20 to Rs 600 per month and increased one-time refundable mess security deposit from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000. The fee was, however, partially rolled back. Now, the room rent for single-seater rooms will be kept to Rs 600 per month, while it will be Rs 300 for those students who are from the BPL category.
Thirteen members of JNUTA executive committee met the MHRD-appointed committee in Shastri Bhawan and submitted a memorandum, citing that there was no possibility of normalcy on campus till hike in hostel charges is withdrawn. The three-member committee appointed by the ministry of HRD held a meeting with representatives from Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Thursday over the hostel fee hike issue.
Meanwhile, students from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s JNU and Delhi University, and Jamia Millia Islamia unit held a protest march from Mandi House to Parliament on Thursday demanding complete roll back of the hostel fee hike in JNU.