New Delhi, August 01: The Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) order of appointment of a Persian language professor as the chairperson of Linguistic Centre has been set aside by the Delhi High Court. In accordance with the practice and the law, the Executive Council of JNU has been directed by Justice Suresh Kait to appoint a chairperson from the Linguistic Centre itself.
The court was hearing a petition by a faculty member, who teaches in the Linguistic Centre, claiming that the practice and rules of the University states that the chairperson of a centre is to be appointed amongst the professors as per seniority from the centre itself.
Petitioner Ayesha Kidwai said that in this case, it has been proposed by the varsity to appoint a Persian Centre’s professor as chairperson of the Linguistic Centre.
“I find that all the chairpersons are appointed from the same centres itself, whereas the respondent number 3 (professor) is from the Persian Centre and is appointed chairperson of the Linguistic Centre to which the petitioner belongs,” the judge said after going through the appointments of chairpersons in different centres.
There are twelve centres under the Department of Languages, including the Linguistic Centre, JNU’s counsel has submitted. It further said that Prof. Kidwai and the other professor are from the same school of languages but different centres.
Premature petition
It asserted that the petition was premature because the appointment of Professor Mazhar Asif was done as chairperson of the Linguistic Centre as a temporary arrangement, and the Executive Council had to ratify it in its meeting.
On July 18, JNU passed an order designating Asif as the chairperson of the Linguistic Centre, despite not belonging to this centre. The petition stated that he is already the chairperson of Persian and Central Asian Studies and in terms of date of appointment, he is junior to the petitioner.
About Jawaharlal Nehru University
JNU is a world-renowned centre for teaching and research. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has ranked the university number one in India with a Grade Point of 3.91 (on a scale of 4). In 2016 and 2017, JNU was ranked number three and two respectively among all universities in the country by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, Government of India. In 2017, it also received the Best University Award from the President of India.
