New Delhi: A delegation of Aam Aadmi Party’s teachers’ organisation, AADTA, on Tuesday met Education Minister Atishi. The delegation apprised her of the deliberate delay in the formation of the governing body at 28 Delhi government-funded colleges by the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University. They also informed the Education Minister that this politically motivated step of the V-C is impacting the administrative functioning of the colleges severely.
Along with the delegation, MLA Sanjeev Jha was also present at the meeting. During the meeting, the president of the association, Professor Aditya Narayan Mishra, said, “The deliberate delay in the process of formation of a governing body at government-funded colleges by the DU Vice-Chancellor is a contempt of decisions taken in a democratic manner.
Appointment of any employee at government-funded colleges in the absence of a governing body is illegal. At the behest of the Vice-Chancellor, instead of accommodating ad-hoc teachers in government colleges, principals are imposing their arbitrary decisions. It is the governing body’s responsibility to ensure the appointment of principals and making ad-hoc teachers permanent at colleges, this step of the vice-chancellor is politically motivated.”
Professor Mishra said that the intention behind the delay in the formation of the governing body in colleges was to overturn the Delhi Government’s decision to absorb the ad-hoc teachers.
He stated that the Vice Chancellor was arbitrarily flouting the rules and that his move to delay the process intentionally was politically motivated. Professor Mishra provided an example for the same, stating, “This was seen at Bharti College, where on February 15, 2023, the Assistant Registrar of the college sent nominations of 3 people to the governing body, which is a complete violation of section 30 (1). In Delhi government-funded colleges, nominations are to be sent by the government to the governing body in these colleges. On being questioned about the list of nominees sent by the Delhi government, the Vice-Chancellor cited technical issues.”
It is to be noted that due to the delay in the formation of the governing body in Delhi government-funded colleges, administrative functions are being hampered in them. The 28 colleges funded by the Delhi Government are being run by a small body that lacks representation from the Delhi Government. This essentially means that all decisions, especially those that may have a financial impact on the government, cannot be made by the college without the involvement of a fully functioning governing body.
In the absence of the governing body, the ability of the college to take important decisions regarding promotions, appointments, and other issues relating to operations would be severely hampered.
The Delhi government wants that there should not be any interviews in these 28 colleges without the formation of a governing body, because the Delhi government intends to create a system that will give priority to the absorption of existing ad-hoc teachers.