India
Today: New Delhi: Monday, 08 February 2016.
In response
to an RTI query filed by Sukhdev Jain, the varsity has said, "For the
academic session 2015-16, total number of 980 candidates were admitted in Jamia
schools of whom 17 were granted admission on recommendation of the Vice
Chancellor".
In a
violation of the university statutes, Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor
Talat Ahmad nominated 17 students for admission to Jamia schools during 2015-16,
an RTI query has revealed.
In response
to an RTI query filed by Sukhdev Jain, the varsity has said, "For the
academic session 2015-16, total number of 980 candidates were admitted in Jamia
schools of whom 17 were granted admission on recommendation of the Vice
Chancellor".
In the same
response, the university has also admitted that "there is no
Circular/Order/Memo/Notice or Resolution explicitly empowering the Vice
Chancellor, who is the Principal Executive and Academic Officer of the
university, to nominate candidates for admission on rolls of Jamia
schools".
There are
five schools run by the Jamia administration- Jamia Senior Secondary School,
Syed Abid Hussain Senior Secondary School (Self-finance), Jamia Girls Senior
Secondary School, Jamia Middle School and Mushir Fatma Nursery School. The
admissions to these schools are made on the basis of performance in a written
test and an interview.
The RTI
response maintained that the recommendations are "marginal" and have
had no impact on the sanctioned strength of admissions.
"Admissions
for sanctioned strength of intake of seats in the Jamia Schools is not
disturbed by any marginal recommendations by the Vice Chancellor for admission
over and above the sanctioned intake in any special exceptional cases," it
added.
The university
authorities, however, maintained that though there is no official rule, the
Vice Chancellor has an "implied" discretion to do so.
"There
is an implied discretion that the Vice Chancellor can recommend admissions in
exceptional cases vis-a-vis students coming from exceptionally weaker sections
of society or first generation learners in pursuit of community
development," Jamia spokesperson Mukesh Ranjan said.
The issue of
"backdoor entries" to Jamia schools also figures in the allegations
raised by Obaid Siddiqui, a Mass Communication professor, in his petition to
President Pranab Mukherjee, who is Visitor to the university.
Siddiqui, was
suspended last week by the university for the "misconduct" of
approaching the President without having articulated his concerns before the
varsity administration.