DUTA to agitate on August 21 over grants for 12 DU colleges

new delhi: The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) said on Tuesday that it will hold a protest on August 21 if the city government does not release adequate grant-in-aid for the 12 DU colleges fully funded by it.

The DU and the Delhi government have been locked in a tussle over the formation of governing bodies in 28 colleges fully or partially funded by the latter. The DUTA said that governing bodies had been formed in nine of 12 colleges fully funded by the government but due to the ''inadequate'' grants released by the government, salaries have not been paid to staffers since May.

On August 6, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's office had issued a statement alleging corruption in the 12 DU colleges.

In an online briefing, the DUTA dismissed these allegations, calling them "unsubstantiated".

DUTA president Rajib Ray said, "For the past one year or more, the sanction of grants to the 12 colleges 100 per cent funded by the Delhi government has been sporadic and inadequate. Inordinate and unexplained delays in release of grants have had a crippling effect on institutions. This is totally unacceptable, more so in the current context, when employees are battling health and livelihood issues."

The Delhi government had released grants in aid for paying salaries in three installments (Final Installment for the financial year 2019-2020 towards salaries from January to March), and two for FY 2020-21 but after each installment, DUTA informed Delhi government that the amounts were "highly inadequate and not enough to cover salaries for the said periods", Ray said.

Colleges have not received any Grant-in-Aid for the month of June, July or August, according to Ray.