NEW DELHI :Despite repeated requests from the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and other teachers’ bodies, the Delhi government seems to be rigid on its stand of not releasing funds to colleges affiliated to the Delhi University (DU) funded by it.
The Delhi government’s directive to stop funding in 28 colleges—12 are fully funded, while 16 are partially funded by the Delhi government—came in April allegedly due to a tussle between the Delhi government and the DU administration over the formation of governing bodies. The partially funded 16 colleges are managing to disburse salaries on time but the rest of the 12 colleges are not being able to give salaries to their employess on time.
However, the Delhi government has been blaming the current DU administration led by Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Kumar Tyagi for toeing the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s line and not allowing the formation of a proper governing body. This has led to the Delhi government’s action, as 4,000 staff are bearing the brunt of this action.
Teachers of several colleges have claimed that due to stoppage of funds, they are facing problems in getting their salaries on time and the situation is persistent for more than two years.
DU is a Central University and most of its colleges receive funds directly from the University Grants Commissions (UGC).
On the condition of anonymity, a teacher of Deen Dayal College told The Sunday Guardian: “It is difficult to manage the day-to-day functioning of colleges. Due to stoppage of funds, we are not getting salaries on time and that has become a routine for several months. This is clearly a political slugfest and punishing teachers in this fight is not a good idea.”
Former DU Executive Council member Rajesh Jha also sees the issue as a result of the political slugfest and has written repeated letters to the Vice-chancellor as well as the Delhi government to end the deadlock and allow proper functioning of the institution.
“The Delhi University V-C is not working as per the university’s rule book. The formation of the governing body process in DU is not being followed by the current administration and it is trying to rule out the Delhi government’s claim that it is unfair. The DU administration should allow the proper formation of the governing body in the colleges that are funded by the Delhi government,” Rajesh Jha told The Sunday Guardian.
“However, stopping funds is not a good idea as it impacts the function of colleges. It is not right to punish teachers for the mistakes that they have not even committed. We have requested the Delhi government that it should release regular funds to these colleges,” Jha said.
The term of the governing body members in all the 28 colleges has ended and these colleges are functioning under the truncated governing body for more than 10 months.
The DU colleges that receive 100% funds from the Delhi government include Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Science, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Shaheed Raj Guru College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Keshav Maha Vidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Maharishi Balmiki College of Education and Bhaskara Charya College of Applied Science.