The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday, March 7, questioned appointments being made for senior posts at Delhi University (DU) without following due process.
According to a report by The New Indian Express, AAP MLA Somnath Bharti said that DU is known all over the world for its academic excellence but it is "unfortunate" that laws are not being obeyed and the recommendation of the Delhi government is being ignored on purpose to enable "saffronisation" of the university campus.
The AAP MLA pointed out how the BJP since forming the government at the Centre in 2014, slowly eroded the faith of the public in democratic institutions. He said that the Executive Council that is headed by the Vice-Chancellor has intentionally started to ignore the recommendations sent by the Delhi government and has been involved in nominating members of a particular ideology for senior posts in the university in violation of prescribed rules.
According to the report, Bharti went on to add that there are 28 colleges within DU for which the Governing Body members are appointed by the Delhi government. He noted that of these 28 colleges, Delhi University fully funds 12 colleges and partially funds the remaining 16 colleges. But for the Governing Body in these colleges, the names of members are recommended by the Delhi government and the Executive Council holds a meeting and approves these names of candidates.
On January 28 this year, the then Education Minister Manish Sisodia wrote a letter asking for the Governing Body members recommended by the Delhi government to be approved by the Executive Council meeting that was to be held on February 3, the MLA said, according to TNIE. Although this meeting was held, the recommendations were not approved. The reason stated for not approving the names by DU's Executive Council was "technical grounds". However, later in the month, three members were nominated to the governing body of Bharti College. This, Bharti claimed, was done to ensure that the position of principal at Bharti College could be filled with a "person of their choice". He added that the move was illegal because it was done without the approval of the Executive Council regarding the names of the candidates.