JNU Students’ Union moves Delhi High Court against new hostel manual

January 22: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court against the new hostel manual. The petition submitted that decisions taken by university’s Inter Hostel Administration (IHA) in its October, 2019 meeting are malafide, arbitrary and illegal and adversely affect the students.

“The amendments to the Hostel Manual include an increase in hostel fee, affect rights of those in reserved categories vis-a-vis allocation of hostel rooms and also reduce the representation of the JNUSU in the IHA amongst several other changes,” the petition reads.

Under the new hostel fee rules, students were supposed to pay a service charge of Rs 1,700 per month. However, this charge was later taken back by the administration. Rent for a single room has been increased from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, and for a double-sharing room from Rs 10 per month to Rs 300 per month.

The government, meanwhile, said that the basic demand of JNU students on the issue of hostel fee hike has been met.However, the revised hostel room charges will be borne by the students, with 50 per cent concession for those from the BPL category,.