Akansha Upadhyay
Published on: 08 December 2022 at 19:06 IST
The Delhi High Court issued notice to Jamia Millia Islamia on a plea challenging the central university’s decision to dissolve the Jamia Teachers’ Association (JTA), established 50 years ago.
A single-judge bench of Justice Pratibha Singh said, “The question that arises in the writ petition is twofold. First, whether the petitioner can maintain the writ petition as he no longer works in the University. Two, whether the injunction In the absence, the Jamia Teachers Association can work independently from the law constituting the university.
On a petition filed by a member of the Association, Amir Azam, a professor of chemistry who was due to retire from Jamia in 2021, the high court asked the university to keep a copy of the report of the committee constituted by it in a “sealed cover”. Told. Jamia itself will probe the “deficiencies in the constitution of the teachers’ association”. The next date of the matter is listed on February 14.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the teachers’ union, argued that the teachers’ union has the right to function independently of the university, questioning the Vice-Chancellor’s order to dissolve the union.
He further submitted that teachers are within their fundamental rights to form an association under Article 19(1)(c) of the Indian Constitution, subject to morality, public policy and security of the State.
The university argued before the High Court that the association has to function as per the Jamia Act and that a six-member committee headed by Prof Mohd Shakeel, as per an order dated November 18, constituted the constitution of the association and its report was awaited.
The plea claimed that the association is an autonomous organization governed under articles of the constitution framed in 1967 and the university has no locus standi on the recognition or functioning of the association.
The plea states that the dissolution of the JTA by the VC on the recommendation of the Dean of Faculties through orders passed on November 17 was completely arbitrary and illegal as the association can be dissolved only in the manner prescribed in its constitution.
The petition also alleged that the constitution of a six-member committee by the university to look into the lacunae in the JTA’s constitution was illegal as Jamia had no right to interfere in the internal working of the teachers’ union.