Faculty members of Delhi University's Deshbandhu College have written to the Vice Chancellor over the discrepancies in the appointment for the post of Principal. The applicants have requested the VC to look into the matter.
According to the complainants, the names of 18 candidates have been “arbitrarily” removed from the list of qualified people released on Monday, despite having more than the required API (Academic Performance Indicator) score.
“My name was there in the list of applicants released after a scrutiny on September 10 and my API score was also mentioned in that list. However, the recent list does not have my name but the names of candidates having lesser API than mine,” said an associate professor at Deshbandhu, College who wished to remain anonymous.
As per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines for recruitment on a principal’s post, the candidate needs to be an associated professor or professor with a PhD and 15 years of teaching experience.
The candidate should also have minimum 400 API score and published research papers/books.
Alleging that the college’s Governing Body, that looks after the entire selection process, has followed “arbitrary” guidelines in violation of the UGC’s norm, another candidate alleged, “There is immense favouritism in the selection process for the top post at Deshbandhu College. Even after having above 1,300 API score, which is much more than the minimum required criteria, my name has been removed from the final list.”
“We have recently written to the Vice Chancellor and requested him to look into the matter,” he said, adding, they will start an agitation if the matter is not resolved.
Deshbandhu’s Governing Body (GB) chairperson Prakash Nanda, however, dismissed all allegations and said the college is now following a “transparent” procedure.
“Those who are making such allegations had initially gave wrong details about their API score. The score automatically generates after the screening of documents and published works. We can’t make any changes in it on our own.
Also, some of these candidates were assistant professors and not even eligible for the post,” he said.
The appointment of principals is underway in several colleges across the University. The top post in more than 20 colleges have been vacant for several years and they are being run by “acting” principals appointed according to university rules for a term of six months.
