Even as the reappointment of Dhananjoy Shaw as officiating principal of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS), a college under Delhi University (DU), may happen this month itself, documents accessed by The Sunday Guardian have revealed that the criteria regarding basic qualifications have not been followed. Teachers at the IGIPESS have also accused Shaw of promoting “irregularity”. Shaw has, however, rejected the allegations against him.
Documents in the possession of The Sunday Guardian show that despite lacking the necessary qualifications prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and adopted by the Delhi University-Executive Council (DU-EC) for the appointment of principals in DU colleges, Shaw was elevated to the post of officiating principal of IGIPESS in 2013.
According to DU sources familiar with the development, the truncated governing body of IGIPESS, despite being aware of Shaw not meeting the minimum qualification criteria, was likely to renew his appointment this month.
As per UGC rules, any vice principal or officiating principal must have the same qualifications as the principal. Also, in a college exclusively offering Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education (BPEd) courses, the applicant should have a Master’s degree in Physical Education (M.P Ed/M.P.E) with 55% marks or grade equivalent and a PhD in the field of Physical Education. However, Shaw is MSc in Physical Science and despite that, he was appointed the officiating principal of the IGIPESS in an illegal manner, sources confirmed.
In February this year, the DU-EC had opposed Shaw’s reappointment as officiating principal. “EC members had raised the issue of Shaw’s reappointment in a meeting held in February. They had not given the green light to Shaw’s reappointment as officiating principal,” an EC member said on the condition of anonymity.
The final list prepared by the DU Executive Council containing names for appointment of officiating principals shows that Shaw’s name is not mentioned in it, as per documents in possession of The Sunday Guardian.
However, Shaw denied any wrongdoing on his part and said: “For almost 30 years, I have been working in the teaching profession and all these allegations against me are baseless. My appointment was done on the basis of seniority and my qualifications; therefore, I don’t think the charges against me are true.”
DU officials claim that the system of handpicking vice principals who often do not even satisfy the basic qualifications laid down in the DU Ordinance, is rampant in DU.
“This particularly happens in colleges under the Delhi government, where, in the absence of a regular governing body of 15 members, a quorum of five members dominated by DU representatives functions,” a IGIPESS teacher said on the condition of anonymity.
IGIPESS teachers have also accused Shaw of “promoting irregularity” in appointments of ad hoc staff, including Multi Tasking Staff (MTS) responsible for assistance work. “Since last year, Shaw has appointed almost 15 MTS staff members, but half of them are linked to Shaw and in most of these cases, the rules of appointment have not been followed,” the same teacher cited above alleged.
Documents in possession of The Sunday Guardian show that Shaw had not followed proper procedure in preparing the names of interview panellists responsible for appointment of ad hoc teachers and MTS.
When this reporter contacted a teacher whose name was mentioned as a panellist by Shaw for conducting interviews, the teacher said: “He (Shaw) himself holds the interviews, but adds our names in the list of panellists just for the sake of it.”
Also, a document assessed by The Sunday Guardian shows that almost 30 show cause notices and memos have been served against Shaw during his teaching career at IGIPESS. “We have repeatedly informed the governing body of IGIPESS, the DU administration and the Ministry of Human Resource Development about this, but nothing has happened on the issue,” another IGIPESS teacher said on the condition of anonymity.“We have also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the hope that the Prime Minister will certainly do something about the rampant corruption going on in our college and in many other Delhi government funded colleges as well,” the same teacher cited above said.