Press Release, 19.11.2012

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) takes a serious view of the letters issued by the University to its teachers, asking them to evaluate papers of the semester examinations on all days of the week, including Sundays and Public Holidays. The letters also mention that all leaves will stand cancelled during the evaluation process. These letters are the latest example of all that has been going wrong in this University in recent times. They not only amount to a brazen violation of teachers’ service conditions, but also express the unnatural animosity that the V-C harbours towards teachers of the University. Many teachers who had earlier enrolled for the upcoming Refresher and Orientation Courses that are compulsory for their career advancement and professional growth, are presently bewildered and annoyed by this callous decision of the University Administration to cancel all leaves, as these courses clash with the evaluation schedules and these teachers are not being relieved to join these mandatory courses. Leaves that had already been sanctioned are now being retrospectively cancelled.

While such coercive measures are being undertaken at the behest of an unscrupulous Vice-Chancellor and his team of sycophants who seem to have declared an Emergency on the University, the DUTA will resist this onslaught on teachers’ basic rights with all its might, including going to the court on the matter. The DUTA also comprehends this move as a frustrated and lowly attempt, on the part of the V-C, to clamp down on its ongoing collective action which has brought to light the debilitating disconnect between the University Administration and the academic fraternity. This manner of coercion clearly indicates that the V-C has lost the confidence of the teachers in the University and is beginning to crack.

The DUTA also strongly condemns the University’s move to deduct salaries of teachers who are sitting on Hunger Strike on their off-days, holidays or by taking leave. Teachers have been issued notices for pay-cut even for sitting on Hunger Strike on Gazetted Holidays like Eid, Dusshehra and Diwali. Teachers who had availed of their due casual leaves and restricted holidays are also being issued pay-cut notices. The DUTA will not buckle under these pressure tactics and will continue to put up a resolute fight against the tyrannical V-C who has lost his moral right to continue in office. Today is the 41st day of the ongoing Indefinite Relay Hunger Strike which is going on under the shared gaze of the media and the public. Teachers from PGDAV and Kirori Mal College are sitting on Hunger Strike today.

S.D. Siddiqui, Secretary Amar Deo Sharma, President

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