Delhi govt starves DU colleges of cash over impasse over governing bodies
Joegoauk Goa, via Flickr, CC by SA 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk73/13494081944/in/photostream/)
New Delhi: The impasse between the Delhi government and the Delhi University over formation of government bodies in DU colleges has starved them of funds, with at least two colleges not yet receiving funds for the ongoing academic session, The Dispatch has learnt.
The state government sends names of government body members to the university whose executive body then approves it. While the government maintains the university is not clearing names, and that’s why they are being forced to stop funds, teachers at the university have complained that government’s recommendations are not up to the mark.
The state government has stopped funds multiple times to the Delhi University’s 12 colleges that fall under the state government’s ambit during its tenure, citing non-formation of governing bodies in these colleges. It got particularly severe this time as colleges were out of funds to pay even for salaries.
A principal of one of these 12 colleges told The Dispatch on the condition of anonymity that they have still not received funds for two quarters for the current academic session.
The principal said, “We receive funds quarterly. We have only received funds for two quarters for the 2019–20 session as of now. We are somehow paying salaries from apportioning money from here and there, somehow running the college for now but if this continues for another three-four months, we will not be able to run the college.”
When asked about the reason for the face-off, the principal said, “As per our understanding, the government is pushing for the appointment of people affiliated to them and the university is resisting it.”
Teachers at the university said that the situation is unprecedented. They said that they have never seen a time when the government stopped funds for so long.
“I have taught here for 24 years through three governments but I have never seen such a situation when salaries would go unpaid for up to two months,” Bijender Kumar, associate professor at Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, said.
He added, “There would sometimes be a delay of a few days out of some technical reason or at times when the government would be out of money but there would never be a situation like this when the government would deliberately stop funds for so long.”
Another professor at a woman’s college said that there was no such situation during 15 years of the Congress government or during the BJP government before that.
“I have taught here for more than two decades and I have not seen anything like this before. My college runs through makeshift classrooms and infrastructure is poor but we would at least get funds. No government ever gave us a proper building but they never stopped our funds,” the professor said asking not to be named, citing fears of backlash for speaking out.
“We can understand stoppage of funds if there is paucity of funds but there is no such situation now,” the principal quoted above said.
Another principal told The Dispatch that the expenditure to run their college comes at around 2.5 Crores rupees per month.
“We offer subsidised education and we therefore depend on government funds. Our resources to compensate for funds that have been stopped are very limited,” the principal said. “We can pay salaries for a month or two from students’ fees but that is the most we can do.”
The worst hit out of this are those working on contracts. While salaries of all employees would get delayed, permanent staffers know that they will get it either today or tomorrow but those on contracts have no such surety.
“Contracts have to be renewed of ad-hoc teachers and new appointments have to be made. They are thus worst hit in such a situation,” an official at one of the colleges told The Dispatch.
Delhi University Teachers Association’s president Rajib Ray told The Dispatch that, as per the information with him, only one college, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, has not yet received funds.
“We are constantly agitating on the issue and we call on the government to release the funds at the earliest,” Ray said.
Colleges are not hopeful though. The first principal quoted above said that the matter is down for now because of the election and the resumption of grants will depend on the election result. Most polls predict an Aam Aadmi Party victory.
The second principal quoted above said with a scoff, “They said that they would open 20 new colleges. No new college [in DU] has opened but they have driven existing ones on the verge of being shut down.”
Office of the Delhi University’s Vice Chancellor was reached by email and the Delhi government’s secretary for higher education’s office was reached by both phone and email for comments for the story but no response was received. The story will be updated in case they respond.
(The story has been updated to include details about government bodies over which the government and the university were having an impasse. Initial omission is regretted.)
Madhur Sharma is a student of journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, and a graduate in history from the Delhi University. He tweets at @madhur_mrt.
