NEW DELHI: The office of Manish Sisodia, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, on April 16 had sent a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi saying that the funding for 28 colleges that are fully or partially funded by the government will be stopped. The reason cited for the same was that the University had failed to constitute Governing Bodies in these colleges. The institutes which will be directly affected the government's new decision include Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Daulat Ram College and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.
At the same time, another letter has been doing the rounds on social media that says that the names of the members governing bodies were sent to Delhi Government by University of Delhi on April 4, but the Delhi Government has not sent the nomination back.
Commenting on the same, AK Bhagi, a Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) member wrote, "In most colleges, where the Delhi Government is supposed to contribute 5 per cent, it has not done so for the last four or five years. The Government must give the pending 5 per cent contribution in colleges, where this grant has not been released. So, it's more than clear that it is the Delhi Government that has stopped/delayed the Constitution of these Colleges and is blaming DU for it."
The decision had created an outcry among the students and faculty of the university. The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) had issued a press release stating the same, calling the decision unacceptable. "The DUTA finds it unacceptable that the employees of these colleges be held to ransom because of the impasse created by the University and/or the Government.
The stopping of funds is a short-sighted step as it will only disrupt the academic and administrative functioning of these colleges when students are preparing for their semester exams," reads the release.
The DU Students' Union also condemned the circular. "The Vice Chancellor and the Delhi government are equally guilty for what is happening in the university," says Shakti Singh, DUSU President. "There are already issues of pending salaries in these colleges. Apart from that, the infrastructure is also pretty bad. We want the VC to take a quick decision to solve this issue," he adds.
He said that the DUSU members are also planning to meet Sisodia to have a discussion about the same soon. "The government doesn't wish to fund our university. But we want a quick solution for this," says Shakti.
This article originally appeared on Edexlive.com