ORDER

1. Heard Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned amicus curiae, Mr. Sanjay Parikh, learned counsel appearing for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, Mr. A.C. Dhanda, learned counsel for Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) authorities and also Mr. M.L. Lahoty, learned counsel appearing for the Youth for Equality Students.

2. The instant matter comes up before us by way of Interlocutory Applications No. 22-23 and 24 filed by the JNU Students' Union and the learned Amicus Curiae respectively.

3. It appears that by way of judicial intervention, this Court wanted to introduce fairness and transparency in the holding of elections to the Students' Unions in various Universities across the country. The main thrust behind such intervention is because of the fact that the general election scenario in this country is murky and suffering from mob-muscle methods which have deleterious effects on various elections including conduct of free and fair elections to the students' unions. Elections to students' bodies has been badly affected throughout the country. It goes without saying that the students are the future representatives in various democratic bodies like State Legislative Assemblies as well as Parliament in our democratic set up. This Court, therefore, thought that a value based mechanism should be inculcated at a very early stage in the elections of students' bodies so that the same ultimately transforms and improves the quality of general elections to strengthen the democratic governance of the country. This Court, therefore, on the basis of important public law principles, intervened in the judgment rendered by Kerala High Court where the main controversy in a students' body election was whether the form of elections should be Parliamentary or Presidential.

4. By an order dated 12th December, 2005, a Division Bench of this Court took note of certain valid suggestions given by Mr. Gopal Subramanium, the then Additional Solicitor General (presently appearing as amicus curiae before us) in order to ensure free and fair elections to the students' bodies across the country. The learned amicus suggested that there are three areas of serious concern which need immediate attention of this Court. They are:

(a) Criminalization in Students' Union elections.

(b) Financial transparency and limits of expenditure.

(c) Criterion for being eligible to contest elections.

5. This Court, after hearing Mr. Gopal Subramanium, the then Additional Solicitor General and the counsel for Principals of the Colleges and the students' bodies, found that the suggestions given by learned amicus are prima facie worth considering and therefore, appointed a Committee consisting of the following persons:

1. Mr. J.S. Lyngdoh, Retd. Chief Election Commissioner

2. Dr. Zoya Hasan

3. Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta

4. Dr. Dayanand Dongaonkar (Secretary General of the Association of Indian Universities)

6. The said order dated 12th December, 2005 also directs nomination of two other members by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and one of the members should preferably be a Chartered Accountant to consider the financial angles of such elections.

7. Pursuant to the aforesaid order of this Court, a Committee was constituted by the Central Government and the said Committee ultimately consisted of the following persons:

Shri J.M. Lyngdoh Chairman Chairman Former Chief Election Commissioner

Prof. Zoya Hasan Member Member Professor Centre for Political Studies

Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta Member Member President & Chief Executive Centre for Policy Research New Delhi

Prof. Ved Prakash Member Member Director National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) New Delhi

Shri I.P. Singh Member Member Retired Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General

Prof. Dayanand Dongaonkar Convener Convener Secretary General Association of Indian Universities New Delhi

8. The aforesaid Committee upon a very serious exercise gave detailed recommendations. This Court vide its order dated 22n