After JNUTA, JNUSU contests admin's reasons for mandating attendance

JNU Students Union (JNUSU) today countered the administration's justifications for enforcing compulsory attendance, claiming that a 1971 ordinance it had cited had been superseded in 1978.
It alleged that the administration was "deliberately" concealing facts.
JNUSU president Geeta Kumari said, "Ordinance 22 of 1971, which the admin cited, specifies 80 per cent attendance requirement only for certificate of proficiency, diploma of advance proficiency and pre-degree diploma in languages, and not for all courses."
Further, the administration hid the fact that Ordinance 22 of 1971 has been subsequently superseded by Ordinance 23 since 1978, which removed the said attendance criteria even for the diploma/certificate courses, she added.

Yesterday, JNUTA had rejected the "claims" of the administration and said the reasons it mentioned were an "afterthought".
Registrar Pramod Kumar had released a statement two days ago saying the attendance criteria was made compulsory at an Academic Council meeting held on December 1, 2017, based on the Ordinance 22 of JNU, the UGC guidelines for fellowships and the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.
On UGC regulations cited by the admin, Kumari said the UGC only specified that the regularity of a student must be maintained -- through different means -- but it did not mention special requirements of attendance.
"The admin also cites the Lyngdoh recommendations (LCR), 2006 to suggest that attendance records need to be kept. But the LCR is applicable to JNU elections with a number of relaxations, including relaxations to the attendance system, as provided by the Supreme Court of India on Dec 8, 2011," Kumari said.