The governing body chairmen of two Delhi University colleges funded by the Delhi government have instituted fact-finding committees against the respective principals on grounds of “illegal transfer of funds” from specified heads for other uses. The matter was brought up for discussion at Thursday’s Executive Council meeting of the university by the Delhi University Principals’ Association (DUPA), asking the university to look into the “harassment of principals”.
This is part of a long-standing tussle between the Delhi government and the 12 DU colleges fully funded by it over the release of funds, with the colleges repeatedly complaining of the delayed release of grants and the government accusing them of financial mismanagement.
The governing body chairmen of two of these colleges, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Swami Shraddhanand College, have instituted fact-finding committees against the respective principals, Hem Chand Jain and Parveen Garg.
“In the absence of timely arrivals of grants from the funding agencies, especially funds from Students Society Fund to Maintenance Account to tide over the emergency so that the payments of the salaries and other urgent expenditures are made on time to ensure smooth conduct of the teaching-learning process in the best interest of the students. These transfers of funds are done on a loan basis and are recouped as and when grants are released by the funding agency. This practice is also prevalent in almost all UGC-funded institutions under emergent situations. This temporary accommodation is being construed as unauthorised transactions by the chairman of the governing bodies in some colleges,” states the letter by the DUPA to Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, which was placed before the Executive Council.
The association has requested that the fact-finding committees be declared “illegal and infructuous”, and that the university “ensure that no fact-finding/enquiry committee is constituted against the principal of the college without prior approval of the university”.
In the EC meeting, it was decided to constitute a panel by Dean of Colleges Balaram Pani to look into the matter.
