JNU to set up a satellite campus outside Delhi

The Executive Council (EC) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University passed a resolution Monday to explore the feasibility of setting up a satellite campus outside the national capital, the institution said.

The JNU administration also said Central Civil Services rules (CCS) have not been incorporated in the JNU ordinances. The decision was hailed by the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) that has been protesting the proposed move saying it would scuttle their freedom to express dissent.

The EC authorised the vice-chancellor to form a committee to examine the feasibility of setting up a satellite campus outside the national capital and recommend measures in this regard, JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar said.

"The Jawaharlal Nehru University Act, 1966 empowers the university to establish within the Union Territory of Delhi or outside that territory such special centres and specialised laboratories and other units for research and instruction as are necessary for the furtherance of its objects," he said.

The committee will explore a probable location for the campus, the programmes that will be run and the financial feasibility, he added.

The satellite campus will focus on professional courses which are self-sustainable and there is a plan to have a bio-incubator and industry-funded labs on the campus and the varsity would explore the possibility of financial support from various sources, Kumar said.

Amid allegations by the JNUSU that the CCS rules have already been implemented, the vice-chancellor also confirmed that no such rules have been incorporated in the JNU ordinances.

However, the process of framing conduct rules will be expedited, the EC decided.

"The JNU Executive Council resolved to expedite the process of framing of conduct rules for teaching and non-teaching employees and the vice-chancellor underlined the fact that a committee in charge of framing such rules had already been set up. The committee has been entrusted with the task of framing regulations for conduct/disciplinary/service rules for teaching and non-teaching employees of the university for consideration of the Executive Council," the registrar said.

The JNUTA had raised objections to such imposition of a set of rules, which are against the very nature of an academic institution, it said in a statement.

Along with the JNUTA, other teachers' organisations had also raised objections to such a move.

"This has forced the administration to backtrack its earlier decision of incorporating the CCS rules in the ordinances. However, the mindset behind the imposition of such rules is to scuttle any difference of opinion in the university," the JNUTA said.

This mindset is visible not only in the proposal to impose CCS rules but also in other matters like sending notices to the faculty members for participating in a peace march or other political activities, it added.