File photo of Jamia Milia Islamia University campus.
(Photo courtesy: Facebook/Jamia Milia Islamia)

By VERDA SUBZWARIRAHUL GOREJA / The Quint

The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University on Thursday, 17 November, dissolved the present Jamia Teachers’ Association (JTA), and suspended a professor, Sonya Surabhi Gupta, for issuing a notification to conduct the teachers’ association election without taking permission from the competent authority.

On Friday, the now-dissolved JTA called a general body meeting (GBM) to discuss the issue, but it was cancelled after the administration allegedly issued a warning to teachers about potential repercussions for attending the meeting of the now dissolved body. The varsity alleged that the meeting was being planned to “disrupt the smooth functioning of the university”.

This further deepened the rift between Jamia authorities and some teachers of the university.

JTA, which was established in 1962, has played a significant role in the welfare of teachers at Jamia, as well as teachers at all central universities in India.

JTA’s office was also sealed by the university authorities.

But Why Did Professor Gupta Issue the Election Notification?

Professor Gupta, Honorary Director, Centre for European and Latin American Studies, was appointed as the returning officer (RO) by the JTA to conduct its elections, scheduled to be held on 23 November. She issued the notification of the elections on 26 October and valid nomination list was released on 16 November on the official website of Jamia Millia Islamia University.

The university, however, has contended that her appointment as RO is “unlawful” as she had not taken permission from the competent authority.

On Thursday, Jamia registrar, Nazim Husain Al Jafri, released a memo declaring the notification issued by Gupta as ‘null and void’ and decided to dissolve the association citing that the present teachers association tenure came to an end on 15 May 2022.

“Whatever I am doing and whatever I have done, I was doing as the member of the JTA. That’s rendering my services to conduct an election, nothing more than that. I really feel that I haven’t broken any rules and it was all done in good faith.
Professor Sonya Surabhi Gupta

The order dissolving the present association also stated that the Jamia’s Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar has been authorised to constituted a committee to look into the shortcomings of the bye-laws/constitution of the JTA and submit a report within one month so that notification of transparent and smooth conduct of the election of JTA can be issued at the earliest after following due process.

This story was originally published in thequint.com. Read the full story here