Jamia Millia Islamia appoints ombudsperson

Jamia Millia Islamia has appointed Syed Akhtar Husain as the university's ombudsperson.

Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) on Friday appointed Syed Akhtar Husain, former professor and Dean of Faculty of Natural Sciences as ombudsperson for redressal of grievances of students of the university.

Making the announcement, Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar said the decision was taken as per the mandate given by the University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023.

“The ombudsperson shall hear appeals from an aggrieved student, only after the student has availed all other remedies provided under these regulations,” JMI said in a statement.

It added while issues of malpractices in the conduct of examination or in the process of evaluation may be referred to the ombudsperson, no appeal or application for revaluation or retotaling of answer sheets from an examination shall be entertained by the ombudsperson unless specific irregularity materially affecting the outcome or specific instance of discrimination in indicated.

“The ombudsperson may avail assistance of any person, as amicus curiae, for hearing complaints of alleged discrimination.

“The ombudsperson shall make all efforts to resolve the grievances with a period of 30 days of receiving the appeal from the aggrieved student(s),” the statement said.