Students Of Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur Urge MP CM Shivraj Chauhan To Release Funds For Construction Of Permanent Campus

DNLU was established in the year 2018 and was inaugurated by CM Chauhan and former Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Presently, it is functioning from the rented campus of BSNL as a permanent campus is yet to be constructed.

Aggrieved by the same, a group of students wrote,

"It has been almost 3 years since the establishment of the university but the construction of the campus has still not initiated. The functioning of the university from the rented campus is adversely affecting the proper functioning and the growth of the university."

The students claim that after establishment of the University, the State Government had allocated 125 acres of land for its campus. Further, vide order dated September 23, 2020, the Government allocated Rs. 99.85 crores for the first phase of campus construction. However, till date, construction of the building has not initiated.

They claimed that functioning from a rented campus poses a huge financial burden on the University administration and resultantly, the students are suffering from "sub-standard" facilities.

The letter raises the following issues:

• Each year Rs. 6 crores are charged by the BSNL authorities from the University and since the university has been provided with limited grant by the state government, it has to levy high fees (Rs. 2.05 lakh per annum) on the students.
• The University each year generates a revenue of Rs. 9 crores. However, after paying Rs. 6 crores of Rent, the University is left with only 3 crores to pay all the faculties, administrative staff and ground staff. Therefore, the university is left with insufficient or no funds to actually cater even the basic needs of the students.
• The university is under grave financial insecurity, which is ultimately burdening the students of the University, who are being provided with sub-standard facilities even after paying sky high fees.
• The current capacity of the University in the rented campus to accommodate students is only 250 students and currently there are more than 360 students enrolled in the University. Further, a new batch will be inducted in the university in next 2 months, raising the number of enrolled students to 480.

They urged that the State is duty bound to provide the Law Universities with adequate funding and the administration can't be forced to go door to door for asking funds (Bar Association, Jharkhand High Court v. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.)

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