JOIN USTeachers to hold march against govt
Delhi University teacher bodies have launched an offensive against the Arvind Kejriwal government, saying its order suspending “regular” appointments for the post of assistant professor in 28 DU colleges, fully and partially funded by the Delhi government, has lent a severe blow to their long-standing demand of expediting the hiring process.
The BJP-backed National Teachers’ Democratic Front (NDTF) said it will organise a protest march from North Campus to the Old Secretariat opposing the government’s move on April 27.
The Delhi government had earlier put appointments on freeze till governing bodies in the 28 colleges were fully constituted. Teacher bodies say that waiting for an “AAP sponsored governing bodies” will delay the appointment process.
“Over 1,500 appointments have been put on hold following the Delhi government’s order,” said Rajesh Jha of Academics for Action and Development (AAD). DU has 4,500 teachers who worked on an ad-hoc basis.
The AAD on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh against the order issued by the Directorate of Higher Education on April 6, telling him that the AAP government is trying to “encroach on the statutory jurisdiction of DU”.
“Governing bodies, under the University Act, statues and ordinances never cease to exist even when the term of political nominees of Delhi government have expired. Therefore, a call for stalling the interviews has a clear-cut political agenda,” Jha said.
Attacking the Delhi government for allegedly derailing the appointment process, A K Bhagi of the NDTF said 16 of the 28 Delhi government funded colleges receive 95 per cent of their funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“The appointments have been delayed for a long time now, and the UGC has written to the university asking it to make speedy appointments. So who should we listening, Delhi government or the UGC? How can we be receiving two orders from two different agencies,” Bhagi said.
“In any case, the Delhi government should be writing to the university directly because we are government by the Executive Council and Academic Council through the college governing bodies,” he added.