The Delhi government has ordered that no funds should be granted to the 28 Delhi University (DU) colleges that are partly or fully funded by it on account of the varsity not forming new governing bodies (GB).
Across DU colleges, the tenure of governing bodies, which take all decisions for smooth functioning of a college, including appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff, expired on March 8 this year.
The directive came in an April 16 letter from Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia addressed to the Delhi University vice-chancellor (VC) Yogesh Tyagi and Secretary (higher education), stating, “The Delhi University has not constituted governing bodies in the 28 colleges that are fully or partly funded by the Delhi government till date. It is directed that till the governing bodies are formed in these colleges no funds should be released.”
Last month, the Delhi government had urged the DU to extend the tenure of the governing bodies of all state government-funded colleges affiliated to the varsity by three months, citing that it will not be able to participate in their formulation amid election process.
In a March 20 letter to the vice-chancellor, Sisodia had also termed any delay in extending the tenure of governing bodies a “politically targeted move”.
Despite several attempts , DU vice-chancellor Yogesh K Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Das did not respond to calls and texts for a comment.
The Delhi University, a central institute, has 63 colleges under its ambit, of which 12 are fully funded by the state government, including Shaheed Raj Guru College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Maharaja Agarsen College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.
The DU vice-chancellor’s non-communication with its colleges has left their functioning in a limbo.
Many principals expressed concern over the move saying their functioning will be hit in absence of fund, which are released once every quarter.
“The college completely functions through funds from the Delhi government. Everything from salaries to teaching and non-teaching staff to payment of bills is done through money from that (government funds). If we don’t get the funds the college will hit badly,” said the principal of one of the Delhi government’s fully funded colleges.
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) demanded the DU administration immediately intervene in the matter. “The DUTA finds it unacceptable that the employees of these colleges be held to ransom because of the impasse between the University and the government. The stopping of funds is a short-sighted step as it will only disrupt the academic and administrative functioning of these colleges,” DUTA said in a statement on Wednesday.
On April 8, the Delhi government’s higher education department had written to all its colleges asking them to apprise the department about the “status” of their governing bodies.
