According to a report by The Indian Express on November 5, the internal divisions at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have deepened, with increasing conflicts between the administration and faculty and students, even leading to court cases. According to statistics, since 2011, under the tenure of three vice chancellors - S K Sopory (2011-2016), M Jagadesh Kumar (2016-2022), and Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit (since 2022), the number of lawsuits filed against the university administration by the administrative staff, faculty, students, and support staff has exceeded 600, indicating that more campus conflicts are being resolved through judicial means rather than internal negotiations. Specifically, during Sopory's period, the number of lawsuits was the lowest, mostly involving individual demands from faculty and students. The peak in lawsuits occurred during Kumar's tenure, with most cases related to protest activities, disciplinary actions, and freedom of speech. Since the appointment of the current Vice Chancellor Pandit, the number of new cases has decreased slightly, but the university is still dealing with a large number of cases left over from Kumar's era. The legal expenditure for the 2024-25 fiscal year alone reached as high as Rs 28.4 lakh (Rs 2.84 million), setting a record high for 14 years. In response, some views suggest that the increase in judicial litigation began after the BJP government appointed Kumar as the vice chancellor, aiming to consolidate power and control democratic space to promote the ruling party's ideology, leading to the inability of internal mechanisms within the university to resolve related conflicts. Another view states that the university's autonomy has not been compromised, but rather that left-wing groups choose to take judicial action when their opinions are not met.
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1848061242552324/
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