HC MULLS BAN ON OUTSIDERS IN JNU CAMPUS

New Delhi: Outsiders should be barred from entering the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus for things to improve there, the Delhi high court said, noting students from other varsities are “more active” and interfering in its functioning. “We have to shut down the campus for the students of other universities. If JNU campus is closed for outsiders, things will improve,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva observed. “Everyday we are reading in the newspaper about protests in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus,” the court said and asked the the varsity and the Jawaharlal University Students Union (JNUSU) President, present in the court, that “is this the way an educational institution functions”. “I want that a meaningful dialogue between students and the college administration should take place so that the things are settled within the boundaries,” the judge said. The court further said that today students from other universities interfere in the functioning of JNU and they force their political agenda inside the campus. “JNU from last many decades was known for its own culture inside the campus. It never allowed others to interfere in their functioning, but today the outsiders are more active,” the court noted. Only the bona fide students of JNU should be allowed to decide how their university will function, it added. The observation came during hearing of a plea by the administration seeking direction to restrain students from staging demonstrations within 100 metres of the administrative block.