'A fit case for removal’: JNU vice chancellor charged with systematic institutional damage

By A Representative
In a significant escalation of the ongoing institutional conflict at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) and the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) released the "Report of the Public Inquiry against Professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit" during a high-profile campus meeting.
The event was addressed by prominent political figures, including Amra Ram, Member of Parliament from Sikar, and D Raja, General Secretary of the CPI, both of whom extended their firm solidarity with the students and faculty while pledging to raise these grievances within the halls of Parliament.
Presenting the final and combined statement on behalf of a distinguished jury composed of academics, journalists, and social activists, S N Sahu announced that the panel had unanimously found Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit "guilty of all the charges" framed by the university's primary representative bodies.
The jury, which included figures such as Professor Manoj Jha and Professor Tanika Sarkar, declared the findings constitute a "fit case" for a formal demand for her immediate removal from office, characterizing her administration as a "tinpot dictatorship" that has systematically undermined the JNU Act of 1966.
The inquiry report paints a chilling portrait of "institutional collapse" and "bureaucratic violence" under Professor Pandit’s four-year tenure. Central to the charges are allegations of gross misconduct regarding caste discrimination and the erosion of secularism.
The report specifically cites the Vice Chancellor’s public remarks equating Dalit assertion with "drug addiction" and "intellectual terrorism," statements the jury deemed "unbecoming of the office she occupies" and a "direct assault on the legacies of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar".
Furthermore, the administration is accused of facilitating "Brahmanical events" and approving a regressive curriculum in the Sanskrit Department that teaches the "qualities of an ideal Brahmin" as normative academic content, which the report argues constitutes "active institutional violence" against marginalized students.
The inquiry also highlighted the "flagrant breach" of university rules through the handing over of facilities to religious organizations like ISKCON and the RSS-affiliated Samvardhinee Nyas for "scientifically bankrupt" events such as "Garbh Sanskar" workshops.
The findings also detail a "mathematical apartheid" in the university’s admission and recruitment processes. According to the report, RTI data revealed systematic violations of reservation mandates in PhD admissions, where SC and ST enrollment plummeted significantly between the 2021-22 and 2024-25 cycles.
The jury noted with particular "anguish" that the first woman Vice Chancellor of JNU has overseen a decline in the proportion of women faculty to 29.7% and the "systematic, cruel expulsion" of Dalit women from doctoral programs through artificially truncated semesters and weaponized internal assessments.
On the faculty side, the JNUTA presented evidence of "selective" and "opaque" promotion processes, where deserving teachers were allegedly denied advancement until retirement while "hand-picked" loyalists received "lightning speed" promotions.
The report further condemned the "draconian" rustication of the entire elected student union leadership and the "illegal" practice of manual scavenging documented on campus as evidence of a "moral rot" at the heart of the administration.
As the JNU community calls for a "wider struggle" to save the constitutional fabric of the institution, the jury concluded that Professor Pandit has acted as an "agent" in a "Machiavellian attempt" to transform the premier university into a blunt instrument of ideological conformity.

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