New Delhi, March 13 The teachers' association and the students' union of JNU have announced a joint "public inquiry" against the university's Vice Chancellor, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, which will begin on Monday on campus at the Sabarmati lawns.
This follows a recent student referendum conducted by the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU), in which a vast majority of those who voted expressed their desire for the Vice Chancellor to resign.
The JNUSU and the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) will present their "chargesheet" against the Vice Chancellor on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
The "chargesheets" will be presented "before a panel of public figures from various backgrounds. An oral presentation of the case will accompany a written submission that will include all relevant documents," JNUTA said in a statement on Friday.
Over 90 per cent of the approximately 2,400 students who cast their votes voted in favour of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit's resignation. A section of the students and faculty members claimed that there were over 9,000 eligible voters, and most of them refrained from participating in the exercise.
The university and the students' union have been at odds over several controversies. The campus has witnessed continued protests since early February after the university suspended four JNUSU office-bearers, along with former JNUSU president Nitish Kumar, for two semesters.
The suspensions were issued for "extensive damage to university property" during a protest at the Dr B R Ambedkar Central Library on November 21, 2025.
The incident was followed by further protests demanding the revocation of the suspension order and clashes between left- and right-wing student groups. Remarks by the Vice Chancellor on a podcast regarding the UGC Equity Rules, which were deemed casteist by a section of student and teacher bodies, became a major point of contention between the university administration and the JNUTA.
JNUTA further clarified that through the public inquiry, they seek to present a comprehensive picture of the "severe damage being caused to a public institution by the current administration".
"This approach will allow concerned members of the public to understand the real situation at JNU and arrive at an informed judgment. For the inquiry process, we will also invite the JNU administration and give them an opportunity to present their defense," it said.
At the end of each day's proceedings, the panel members will provide their preliminary observations and follow up with a written note articulating their "verdict" on the charges, it added, noting that the final observations and report will then be released to the public.
The hearings on each of the two days are expected to begin at 5 pm, which will be followed by a protest performance.