Delhi University will not be de-affiliating College of Art, gives go-ahead for commencement of admission process

The College of Art (CoA) has been given the go-ahead to commence the process of admission by the Delhi University (DU). Vice-Chancellor of DU Yogesh Singh also informed the Government of Delhi that there will be no de-affiliation of CoA from the university.

It is due to procedural lapses that the issues between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the 12 colleges of DU funded by the city government have begun and it is being resolved, informed the VC, as stated in a report by PTI.

Earlier, the Lieutenant-General's office had given an in-principle approval for the merger of CoA with Ambedkar University, which is a state-run university. This was also subject to CoA's de-affiliation from DU.

Now, the topmost decision-making body of Delhi University, the Executive Council, has refused to de-affiliate CoA. “DU has a system and it has not given an NOC for de-affiliation ever. The university’s Executive Council has decided to not give an NOC. We have conveyed our decision to the Delhi government,” Singh told PTI recently.

Stating that they will be following the decision of the EC and that it is the students who are bearing the brunt of the delay, Singh informed that they have written to CoA, asking them to begin the admission process and also informed that they will not be de-affiliating them.

It is the de-affiliation tussle that has caused the delay in the admissions to the fine arts colleges. 

In the last few years, many a time, the Government and Delhi and the administration of Delhi University have been at loggerheads because of the funding of 12 DU colleges funded by it. In the past, the Delhi government has stalled funding of these colleges pending the formation of governing bodies. These bodies consist of government-nominated candidates who are also approved by the university.  

“See the problem is that colleges got additional posts created after getting approval from their governing bodies. But they did not take funding approval from the funding agency, which is the Delhi government in this case,” Singh said.

It's for several years that this has been going on, informed the VC, and added that nobody paid any attention to it. When the funding agency noticed, they objected. He said that this is his understanding of the situation so far — procedural lapse and trust deficit.    

Now, what's the step ahead to resolve the issue? The VC informed that meetings with the Government of Delhi have been held and in principle, they have agreed to grant one-time approval for all the posts that were created. 

The VC welcomed the step and explained that since new courses were introduced, posts were created.