DUTA Press Release: 27 June

Press Release: 27 June 2014

FYUP Rolled Back! Victory to Teachers and Students of DU!

The DUTA congratulates the teachers, students and karmacharis of Delhi University for the historic and united struggle because of which the autocratic Vice-Chancellor had to yield and agree to implement the rule of law as mandated by the Delhi University and the UGC Acts of Parliament. The university community had struggled for more than a year against the unacademic and illegal FYUP because of which the intellectual growth and future prospects of more than 54,000 students was severely compromised.

The DUTA had continuously brought the serious irregularities to the attention of the UGC and the MHRD since the announcement of the programme but no attention was paid to our concerns. The DUTA expresses its heartfelt appreciation for the role played by the new minister of HRD, Smt. Smriti Irani, in restoring the rule of law and saving a fresh batch of 54,000 students from the same fate. We also thank her for emphasizing the need for dialogue and compelling the Vice-Chancellor to meet the DUTA representatives after a gap of more than three years.

We expect that immediate guidelines will be issued to colleges to publish the pre-FYUP courses on their website along with the number of seats per course. Emergency Staff Council meetings should be convened at the earliest and cut offs announced based on past experience without inviting fresh applications. The University should announce the new admission schedule for this purpose. The DUTA assures the applicants of the full cooperation of all teachers for early and smooth conduct of admissions. The DUTA also assures the 2013 batch of FYUP students that their interests will be protected by bringing back the focus on the Discipline 1 courses in the second and third year at the end of which they will get an Honours degree. The DUTA has proposed that the BTech students of 2013 be permitted to continue till the fourth year and be given a BTech degree and attempts be made to strengthen the technical content of the course.

It is a matter of great regret that the process was held up because of the recalcitrance of the Vice-Chancellor who should have made the announcement a week back. Instead, he held the entire university and the close to three lakh applicants ransom in a hostage like drama, causing immense hardship to outstation students.

The DUTA has been highlighting the serious breakdown of dialogue at the behest of the Vice-Chancellor who has functioned like a feudal lord for the last three and a half years. Dissent has been systematically crushed through threats, intimidation and victimization and statutory bodies made into rubber stamps. There is prima facie evidence of serious financial irregularities, especially in the matter of diversion of OBC funds to distribute laptops in an attempt to silence students’ criticism of the course. Funds meant for development of teaching in departments were diverted to Antardhwani, a mega festival meant to showcase the FYUP. The DUTA demands a Visitorial Enquiry into charges of misgovernance and financial irregularities against the Vice-Chancellor, pending which he should be asked to proceed on leave. No university can function without space for free and fearless exchange of ideas, necessary not only for ensuring the highest quality of courses and probity in administrative functioning but also for fostering critical and independent thinking and creativity in our students. To subvert these is the greatest crime that a Vice-Chancellor can commit and Prof. Dinesh Singh is guilty of this crime. Thereby, he is squarely responsible for subverting the academic autonomy of Delhi University and has to be held accountable for this. His removal from this post will pave the way for the restoration of democratic spaces and dialogue and the proper functioning of statutory bodies within the university. 

Nandita Narain, President
Harish Khanna, Secretary