DU wants sporting look for future Chands

The controversy around U-19 cricket captain Unmukt Chand's promotion to the next year of college is likely to end in a pleasant outcome. The Delhi University Sports Council (DUSC) is planning to bring fresh guidelines to waive off mandatory attendance requirement to a large extent for the students admitted under sports quota.

The proposed set of rules will be presented to the academic council and the executive council of the university by the DUSC before it is notified. Meera Sood, the secretary of the DUSC, confirmed the formation of new guidelines. She said, 'A new set of policies will be tabled before the Executive Council and the Academic Council of Delhi University in a few days for approval.'

According to sources, the new DUSC guidelines are likely to propose 50 per cent waiver in attendance to students who participate at the national-level sporting events and 70 per cent for those students who represent the country at international events. However, for the waiver criteria to apply, the college will need a letter of recommendation from the respective federations. The players participating in such events will have to keep the DUSC informed.

The sources added that 100 per cent attendance waiver may be offered to students who achieve something big for the country, for instance, a World Cup win or an Olympic gold medal. However, the DUSC is not yet forthcoming in the formal categorisation of such events.

The union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, the sports minister Ajay Maken and sports personalities, including the Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni, had spoken in favour of Chand, following which he was promoted to the second year by the vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi.