NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the decision of the AAP government asking 12 Delhi University colleges, fully funded by it, to pay outstanding salaries to staffers from the Students Society Fund.
The order was issued following an appeal filed by Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) president Akshit Dahiya in the HC seeking stay on the Directorate of Higher Education order issued on October 16.
The Delhi HC has asked the respondents to maintain the status quo until the next hearing scheduled for November 2.
Justice Navin Chawla passed the order on the plea which said the students’ fund cannot be used for any other activity other than for students welfare. The DUSU’s counsel said the fund cannot be used for paying teachers salaries.
The students’ petition was also supported by the advocate Aakanksha Kaul, representing the DU. The DUSU has challenged the order of Delhi government asking the 12 colleges to pay the salaries of over 1,500 staff, both teaching and non-teaching, from the students’ fund and the amount should be released within two weeks. The college staff are not paid for the last three months.
The high court issued notice to the DoHE, DU and Delhi government and sought their replies on the petition by DUSU. Justice Chawla, who orally observed that instead of taking students’ fund, the state should have paid the salary amount to college staff, transferred the case to the court of Justice Jyoti Singh before whom similar matters are pending. According to DU officials, SSF is meant for funding various student societies at colleges, the unspent amount are utilized only for the purpose of student welfare.