Ten students of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) have alleged that they remain barred from classes and university hostel accommodation despite the Telangana High Court suspending a disciplinary circular issued against them.
The students said they had been staying in private hostels for 55 days and paying for accommodation while being unable to attend classes. In a letter to higher education principal secretary Yogita Rana and Telangana State Council of Higher Education chairman Prof. V. Balakista Reddy, they sought intervention in the matter.
“We are not in a position to spend thousands of rupees on private accommodation while being kept away from classes,” the students said in their appeal. Their allegations concern access to education, university accommodation and the implementation of interim judicial relief within a public higher education institution.
According to the students, the dispute began after they objected to a fellow student allegedly harassing a woman student. One student told Deccan Chronicle that the students had attempted to oppose the alleged harassment, but that a minor altercation was escalated and led to disorder on the campus.
The students alleged that JNTUH’s inquiry committee took selective action. They said JNTUH principal Prof. Narasimha Reddy issued orders on October 13 suspending some of them for six and eight months and denying them hostel accommodation. They also alleged that repeated attempts to approach university officials produced little assistance.
The students further claimed that some officials refused to meet them and that they were mocked when seeking relief. They alleged that photographs of students were displayed at university entrances even after the High Court’s interim order. The claims have been attributed to the students and were not independently established in the supplied report.
After two students missed an examination, the group approached the Telangana High Court through advocates Revanth Karupothula and Krishna Maragani. In an interim order in a writ petition, the court suspended the October 13 disciplinary circular insofar as it concerned the 10 petitioners until December 15.
The court directed the university to allow the students to take their ongoing and remaining semester examinations. It also ordered that another examination be arranged for the two students who missed the International Business paper on October 26. The students said the court questioned differences in punishment and the inquiry committee’s handling of the incident.
The students have argued that the university’s treatment of them remains unclear even after the court’s intervention. They questioned the use of the term “non-boarders” for students who do not receive hostel accommodation, saying that such students are ordinarily described as non-hostellers.
A JNTU official told Deccan Chronicle that the interim relief related to examinations and did not specifically direct the restoration of hostel accommodation or classroom access. The students said they had also emailed higher education officials seeking intervention and alleged that they were threatened for approaching the court. The interim order remains applicable to the petitioners until December 15, according to the report.
