DUTA PRESS RELEASE: 18 December 2014
The DUTA opposes and strongly condemns the decisions taken by the Governing Body of Kirori Mal College, in its meeting of 11 December 2014. These controversial decisions are (i) to constitute a fact-finding committee on the UGC-NET Scam in which the current officiating principal S.P. Gupta and the former GB Chairman Baleshwar Rao stand accused, and (ii) to serve a show-cause notice to the suspended principal Bhim Sen Singh even as the statutory enquiry has exonerated him from all charges.
The DUTA has consistently demanded that the current officiating principal S. P. Gupta, against whom criminal proceedings have been ordered by two court rulings, should be put under immediate suspension pending a proper statutory enquiry. Even the UGC has repeatedly asked the college Governing Body to take cognizance of the NET exam scam and commence action against S. P. Gupta and the other accused named in the Court-ordered FIR. However, the Governing Body has shamelessly displayed a grave lack of probity in allowing Gupta to continue as officiating principal. The fact-finding committee is an inadequate step and at variance with Ordinance XVIII of the Delhi University Act. It amounts to a diluted response under pressure and seems designed to let the accused buy time and facilitate the tampering of evidence related to the scam.
On the other hand, the Governing Body has also ignored the vital findings of its own-instituted Justice Ganguly Committee Report which exonerate the suspended principal Bhim Sen Singh of all charges which had become the basis of the enquiry and his suspension. The DUTA has learned that instead of placing the findings, the GB Chairman proposed a “disagreement note” and got it approved by majority decision without even allowing the GB members to read and discuss the Report. The dissent notes submitted by the two college teachers’ representatives in the Governing Body indicate that the decision to “disagree” with the Report was premeditated and malafide.
The DUTA takes serious note of the fact that the enquiry Report has found the DU Vice-Chancellor, former GB Chairman Baleshwar Rai and current officiating Principal culpable in the administrative corruption and misgovernance prevalent in Kirori Mal College.
The Governing Body has attempted to bury the enquiry Report and instead, has issued a show-cause notice to the Bhim Sen Singh based on, what the language of the notice terms, “tentative reasons.” This kind of verbal acrobatics fails to conceal the real motive of the Governing Body Chairman and other supporting members who are acting as willing instruments of political vendetta against Bhim Sen Singh while trying to shield S. P. Gupta. This murky politics of revenge and convenience, aided and abetted by the DU Vice-Chancellor and administration, has allowed widespread corruption to tarnish the image of the otherwise prestigious college.
NANDITA NARAIN, President
HARISH KHANNA, Secretary
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