The teachers’ association at Delhi University’s Dyal Singh College on Wednesday threatened to go on strike if the chairperson of the institution’s governing body, Amitabh Sinha, is not removed from his post immediately.
The Dyal Singh College Teachers’ Association, or DSCTA, has accused Sinha of committing a series of violations and illegalities, and taking arbitrary actions.
“The DSCTA along with Joint Action Committee and Delhi University Teachers’ Association will be forced to go on direct action programmes of protest, including strike at the university level, if Sinha is not removed immediately from the post of chairman, Dyal Singh College GB,” the teachers’ body said in a statement. “As a matter of fact, renewal of his term is due on November 3 and if the DU authorities do not accept our demand, DSCTA will be forced to take precipitative action from November 5.”
On September 24, Sinha had issued an order sending Principal IS Bakshi on “long leave” after accusing him of financial and administrative irregularities, The Indian Express reported. However, the principal continued to come to work, stating that the order was illegal. The following month, Sinha sealed Bakshi’s office, claiming he had occupied it without authority.
The teachers’ association also said Delhi University’s decision in 2017 to convert an evening college that functioned out of the campus into a morning college, thereby creating two morning colleges, was “illogical and arbitrary”. The evening college, was founded in 1958 while Dyal Singh College was set up the following year. Both institutes share the same governing body and college buildings but have separate teaching and administrative staff.
“Such a non-optimal, misinformed and uneducated decision drove a wedge among the staff and students of both the colleges over limited infrastructure and resources,” they said in the statement.
The teachers’ association also claimed that Sinha was biased in favour of the evening college and has “complicated the financial working of the institution by asking the college bank to disregard the office of the principal [of the] morning college”.
The teachers’ association alleged that Delhi University Vice Chancellor YK Tyagi had maintained an “indifferent and criminal silence” over Sinha’s actions. The university’s “indifference has created serious academic, administrative and financial crisis” for the staff and the students of the morning college, the teachers alleged.
“The DSCTA understands the [importance] and responsibility of its decision at this final stage of the semester but there is a grave danger to the larger public and our institution if Sinha and his illegal arbitrary ways of functioning go unchallenged,” it added. “We request the Delhi University community, civil society and general public to stand with DSCTA in its fight against arbitrariness, illegality and authoritarianism.”
In December 2017, Sinha had suggested renaming the evening college Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development rejected the proposal.
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