Delhi University asks Delhi government to release funds for teachers' salaries

New Delhi : The Delhi University (DU) on Tuesday asked the Delhi government to "immediately" release funds for salaries of teachers of 12 colleges, which the government has not paid for the last two months on account of non-formation of governing bodies there.

The varsity has sent another list of 100 additional names to the government to choose from for the formation of governing bodies.

"Delhi University has sent additional names, around 100, to the Delhi government for formation of governing bodies of colleges, which are partly or totally funded by the Delhi government. The list has been received. Also, the Delhi government has been requested to release the funds to these colleges immediately," Dean of Colleges Devesh Sinha told IANS.

The Delhi government funds 28 colleges of DU in all. Apart from these 12 fully-funded institutions, it contributes five per cent funds to the remaining colleges.

The teachers of these 12 colleges, including Maharaja Agrasen College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Bhagini Nivedita College and Shaheed Sukhdev College, have not received their salaries for the last two months.

The governing bodies have not been formed in these 28 colleges for almost one-and-half years due to disagreement between the government and the varsity over the suggested members.

The university had earlier sent a list of 386 names out of which 140 were approved by the government and so conveyed to the varsity. However, citing some rules, the latter refused to go ahead with the list, and sent it back to the government adding 17 more names.

According to an Academic Council member, the long-drawn tussle over names is not due to procedural shortcomings but is a matter of politics between the central government and the AAP government in Delhi.

"This is not a matter of rules and regulations but about who will control the university. This a totally a political issue... The issue would have been resolved long back if there was a strong Vice Chancellor at the helm. But he wants to sail in two boats. He wants to disappoint neither the Aam Aadmi Party nor the BJP at the Centre," the Academic Council member told IANS on condition of anonymity.

About 2,000 teachers are affected by the delay in payment of salaries, he said.

Each governing body is comprised of 10 members with the Delhi government and the university reserving the right to select five each.