The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday announced that they will merge the College of Art — currently affiliated to Delhi University — with Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD). The college is run by the Delhi government. "The Delhi Cabinet has approved the merger of Delhi University’s College of Arts, functioning under the Directorate of Training and Technical Education, and Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management (DIHRM) affiliated with GGSIP University, functioning under the Directorate of Higher Education. Together they will now be part of Dr B R Ambedkar University," the Delhi government said.
While the Delhi government announced the decision on Tuesday, DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said any decision on College of Art’s de-affiliation with DU was yet to be taken. "They had written to us about 8-10 days ago saying they would look to de-affiliate from DU. We said we would place it before our Academic Council (AC) since it’s a major policy decision. We can’t take any decision without the approval of statutory bodies," he said. As per reports, a Delhi government official said, "The Delhi College of Art is fully funded by the Delhi government. Therefore, the decision to bring it under Dr B R Ambedkar university does not need any form of clearance from DU."
The College of Art was established in 1942. Art education stalwarts such as Ramendranath Chakravarty, BC Sanyal, Biswanath Mukherjee, OP Sharma, have since their inception, headed and nurtured this institution. The present Faculty also includes such members, Professor BS Chauhan (Principal), Professor Meera Sarvanan, Professor Jyotika Sehgal, Dr Amargeet Chandok, Ashok Ninawe, Kripal Singh, RK Mahajan, Omkarachari, Kandagiri Ramesh, Dr Sumita Kathuria, Dr Kumar Jigeeshu.
Four Academic Council members — Kapila Mallah, Sudhanshu Kumar, Alok Ranjan Pandey, Chander Mohan Negi — and two Executive Council members — Seema Das and J L Gupta — have written to the DU vice-chancellor opposing the decision. “Such attempt at de-affiliation of DU colleges leading to the dismemberment of the University of Delhi is in contravention to the Acts, statutes and ordinances of DU, which must be stopped at all levels,” they wrote.
