UGC notification on PhD scholars binding, says JNU

NEWDELHI:The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that a 2016 University Grants Commission notification --- putting a cap on number of students a professor can provide guidance – was binding on it.

The July 5, 2016 notification had said that a professor, at any given point of time, cannot guide more than three M.Phil. and eight PhD scholars.

JNU students are protesting against the notification that is set to result in “excess seat cuts” leading to no admission in the MPhil, Phd programmes at several centres of the varsity. They have been on a sit-in since February 9 at the administrative block, which they have named as ‘Freedom Square’.

Advocate Monika Arora, who appeared for the JNU administration, told Justice VK Rao that the UGC regulations were “binding on the university”. She said the university will neither receive grant nor could award degrees if it stopped following UGC’s regulation, adding, 43 central varsities were already abiding by the notification.

During the hearing, the petitioners – both existing and prospective students, who had moved the HC -- agreed to take an undertaking that they are not challenging the UGC notification and restricting their case to “procedural lapses” on JNU’s part in adopting the notification.