The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Mohit Pandey has not been allowed to register for this semester – his last – at the varsity. On Sunday, the union announced an “all-party meeting” to discuss problems with the registration process and the rejection of Pandey’s application. Wednesday was the last day for registration.

The president was not given any reason for the denial in writing, but was told it was because he had not paid the many fines imposed upon him, Pandey told Scroll.in. In a statement, Pandey said he was facing six internal inquiries and two FIRs or police cases.

“In different cases, students are facing exorbitant fines of Rs 10,000- RS 20,000,” said Pandey while explaining why he did not pay. “I was also fined Rs 20,000. Many students have to pay fines under duress because their synopsis was blocked and they were not getting an extension. I decided to not pay the fine because of such ransom tactics.” He also alleged that the inquiries itself were not transparent.

On Friday, the vice-chancellor’s office had excluded the students’ union president when inviting union members for a meeting. After several students protested against his exclusion, the university issued a statement saying that “none of the invited members of the [union] turned up for the meeting scheduled [on Friday]”. It acknowledged that the union was protesting against one of their “office bearers” not being invited.

“The fact remains that only three out of four JNUSU office bearers are registered students of JNU as of date”. The university’s students have to register afresh at the start of every semester.

The vice-chancellor has the power to extend the deadline for registration to August 15, Pandey said and added that a failure to register for a semester was as good as being expelled.

When contacted on Wednesday, Proctor Vibha Tandon told Scroll.in she was “not interested in talking”. Internal investigations are generally handled by the proctor’s office.