Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit has termed allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of teachers as a ‘malicious campaign’ run by the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) and JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA).
Ms. Pandit made the statement on Sunday, August 16, 2026, amid calls for her resignation over the allegations. She claimed that sections of the media have been running a fake and malicious campaign against her through false, distorted, selective, or unsubstantiated narratives. Despite the most transparent recruitments, especially of the SC/ST and the OBC, in the University in the last four and a half years of her term as V-C, she has been made the target of a vicious campaign by the JNUSU and JNUTA.
The JNUSU and JNUTA had demanded Ms. Pandit’s resignation on Thursday, August 13, 2026, following the allegations against her. The unions alleged that rules regarding appointments, promotions, and housing allotments were applied arbitrarily based on personal or political-ideological affiliations rather than merit or standardised seniority norms. They also claimed that the established rotation system for appointing deans and chairpersons was bypassed.
The JNU administration responded to the allegations on Sunday, stating that the media story is a malicious campaign by disgruntled left-leaning JNUTA figures based on selective interpretation of UGC Regulations and JNU practices. It claimed that since February 2022, JNU had conducted over 400 interviews and filled over 200 positions, the largest in its history, with nearly 70% of them belonging to various reserved and marginalised categories.
The administration also stated that no complaint has been received from any candidates regarding the interviews. The JNU administration’s statement comes in the wake of defeats in the Delhi HC involving two hardcore Urban Naxal cases, which it claims is a political campaign to embarrass the University and the Government of India.
