Hundreds of Delhi University (DU) teachers went on a two-day strike on Tuesday over an alleged scam in the recent appointment of 126 candidates to the post of assistant professors in varsity's law faculty. The teachers claimed that the appointments are in gross violation of University Grants Commission's (UGC) guidelines and the university bye-laws as it failed to absorb many long-serving ad-hoc teachers.
During the strike, called by DU Teachers Association (DUTA), the teachers took out a march to the Vice-Chancellor's office followed by a public meeting at the varsity's arts faculty. "The administration has failed to come up with an objective criteria for marking in the 50:30:20 weightage formula (as required by UGC Regulations) and has left the whole marking process to the discretion of selection committees, thus making a mockery of the weightage system," said DUTA president, Rajib Ray.
"It has not even shared the full minutes of selection committees, with the mark sheets of the selected candidates, while seeking statutory approval for the appointments in the Executive Council," Ray added.
The interviews for the 126 advertised posts were held from July to September, last year. The results were announced in the Executive Council (EC) meeting held on January 30. Of the 126 selected names, only 39 are of ad-hoc teachers. However, 80 ad-hocs were working in both the centers of law faculty until then.
"I completed my education from the law faculty and then taught there for more than 15 years as an ad-hoc. I was thrown out at the age of 50. Where will I go now?" asked Kiran Bala, who used to teach the LLB students in all three years.
Meanwhile, DUTA also announced to observe a complete bandh on Wednesday against the negative recommendations of the Pay Revision Notification and the 70-30 sharing-arrangement on costs that the UGC has proposed.
"There is palpable anger in the teaching community with the realisation that the government is adamant on drastic cost-cutting and shifting to a loan-based expansion of educational infrastructure. Thousands of teachers are stuck without any promotions and pensions. The Pay Revision notification has ignored the suffering of these sections," said Vivek Chaudhary, Secretary, DUTA.
