Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena will consider setting up a committee to look into the alleged "financial irregularities" in the 12 Delhi University (DU) colleges that are funded by the city government, according to Raj Niwas officials.
A delegation of the Delhi University Principals' Association (DUPA) met Saxena on Monday, December 4, and submitted a memorandum to him highlighting various issues in these 12 colleges, PTI reported.
The LG assured the delegation that he would consider setting up a committee of all stakeholders to find a permanent solution to the issues in a time-bound manner, the official said on Tuesday, December 5.
Delhi Education Minister Atishi had earlier written to the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday, December 1, flagging "irregularities and procedural lapses involving hundreds of crores of rupees from the public exchequer" in these 12 colleges.
Following this, members of the Delhi University's Academic Council and the Indian National Teachers Congress (INTEC) submitted a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh calling for an urgent meeting to discuss the "irregularities" flagged by Atishi.
Condemning Atishi's letter, INTEC said that a significant policy matter pertaining to these 12 colleges was presented before Pradhan without consulting the stakeholders.
In her letter, Atishi said since these colleges are "directly affiliated with DU", they're not answerable to the Delhi government for the judicious utilisation of funds.
She suggested that the colleges can either be merged and brought under the Delhi government or the Centre may disaffiliate them and take their full control and in that case, the Delhi government will stop allocating funds to them.
In their memorandum, Academic Council and INTEC members said, "The letter erroneously categorises these 12 colleges as 'affiliated' when in fact, they are 'constituent' colleges of the University of Delhi and are inseparable from the university. The Delhi government's intent to transform these colleges into Autonomous Degree Granting Colleges under clause 10.3 of the New Education Policy (NEP) clearly signals a privatisation agenda, rendering education unaffordable for economically weaker sections," it said.
The memorandum further said that a special Executive Meeting should be convened urgently by the Delhi University to deliberate on this issue and arrive at a decisive resolution.
The teachers' body alleged that insufficient allocation of grants to these colleges has plunged them into a severe financial crisis, and salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff are often delayed for several months.
Additionally, there are pending arrears amounting to crores of rupees for teachers who have been promoted in the last one and a half years, it claimed.