New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS): The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) teachers took part in a referendum on Tuesday on the demand for the removal of Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar for his "discriminatory policies" and the "total breakdown of the consultative process".

Called for by JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA), the referendum started at 10:30 a.m. and will conclude at 6 p.m.

"We have called for the referendum against the total breakdown of the consultative process under which various academic decisions are taken in the Academic Council. No opinion is sought and matters are not discussed. Some of the decisions are very casually mentioned and then decided upon on the basis of this chitchat," JNUTA President Sonajharia Minz told IANS.

"There has been always a culture of owning the decision by the larger public. That kind of process has totally broken down," she said.

Minz also mentioned the discrimination in teachers' promotion, renewal of wardenship, applying of graded autonomy by the varsity etc, as some of the issues which forced the teachers to go for the referendum.

Of the almost 580 teachers in the JNU, around 200 had cast their ballot by 3 p.m., she said.