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The governing body chairpersons of all 28 Delhi University (DU) colleges funded by the Delhi government have written to the Vice-Chancellor alleging that the recent Executive Council discussions on the “harassment” of principals of two of these colleges were “politically motivated”.
There are 12 DU colleges fully funded by the Delhi government and 16 colleges partially funded by it. The letters sent by the governing body chairpersons on Thursday lay bare the political fault lines in the tussle between these colleges on one side, and their governing bodies (GB) and the Delhi government on the other side.
In the University Executive Council meeting on August 18, the statutory body’s additional agenda included a request by the Delhi University Principals’ Association (DUPA) to the university to look into the “harassment of principals” after the governing body chairpersons of two colleges fully funded by the Delhi government instituted fact-finding committees against the respective principals on the grounds of illegal transfer of funds from specified heads for other uses.
In their letters to the V-C, the chairpersons have alleged that the agenda item had been taken up “hurriedly, secretly and unilaterally” and have requested that the EC proceedings around this agenda item be declared infructuous. They have stated that “listing the agenda item in EC about the functioning of a statutory body i.e. GBs is an encroachment of its autonomous jurisdiction and is not in consonance with the federal character of DU.”
Laying out the political friction between them and the principals, the chairpersons have written, “While performing our duties, we are very much committed to the values of honesty, probity, integrity, transparency and inclusiveness as espoused by the present Delhi Government. We have been very much sensitive and responsive to the concerns raised by Hon’ble National and State OBC Commissions, DUTA, AC and EC Members and student activists. This pinches some such Principals who are arbitrary, authoritarian, insensitive and habitual of wearing the badge of close proximity with the central ruling party on their sleeves.”
They have also accused the DUPA of making “politically motivated” allegations and have highlighted that the association secretary Manoj Sinha – who is the principal of Aryabhatta College – has contested the DU Teachers’ Association and EC elections on the RSS-affiliated National Democratic Teachers Front and has been an office-bearer of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh.
“It is true that I have my own background, but this is not a political debate on TV. These are governance issues that have to be addressed within DU’s academic framework. My charge is that they are the ones who are politicking. As a DUPA functionary, I am speaking on behalf of principals whom they are targeting in a political way,” said Sinha.
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