In an attempt to halt the merger of College of Art with city government-run Ambedkar University, a few students from the former have launched an online petition to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi University Vice-Chancellor.
It was in principle that L-G had given the green signal to the merger of College of Art (CoA) subject to its de-affiliation from the varsity. This is the information that was passed on to Delhi University by the office of L-G, as per a report in PTI.
The online petition mentions that Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) does not have reservations for Scheduled Tribes (STs) from outside Delhi. The fee structure is three to four times more than that of CoA, it says and adds that student-training in Fine Arts is already expensive and if CoA is merged with AUD, students will not be able to afford education. It also went on to state that CoA students were not informed of the merger.
The petition called the act "undemocratic and highly unethical" and stated that the students have the right to influence the process of decision-making. It was due to the tussle over de-affiliation that the academic process for the academic session of 2021-2022 couldn't be held.
The petition demanded that the de-affiliation be stopped and that DU should direct CoA to commence the admission process immediately and fill BFA and MFA seats under the affiliation of the University of Delhi.
“Therefore, we also demand from honourable Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and respected Vice Chancellor of Delhi University to take all steps to stop the attempt of Delhi Government to merge College of Art with Ambedkar University, Delhi,” it added.
