DUTA Letter to VC reg. Crisis in Delhi University: 02.12.2019

To
Professor Yogesh Tyagi
Vice Chancellor
University of Delhi
Delhi 110007
2.12.2019

Subject: Crisis in Delhi University

Dear Professor Tyagi,

Delhi University and its teachers are facing a great crisis. Many College Principals have issued notices saying that joining of ad-hoc teachers have been kept in abeyance till the University issues clarification on the 28 August letter.

The DUTA is of the firm opinion that the chaos and crisis can only be ended through an unconditional  withdrawal of the 28 August letter. The letter has no basis and the matter was never brought to the Academic Council or Executive Council for discussion. We wish to highlight that the appointment of teachers on adhoc basis has been one of the good practices followed by Delhi University and is provided by Ordinance XII and Executive Council Resolution of 2007. The DUTA has consistently demanded that permanent posts be filled up in a routine manner. However, owing to a situation wherein empty permanent posts have been allowed to accumulate over a prolonged period, a provision for adhoc appointments with regular workload was deemed necessary to maintain the stability of teaching-learning. None of the earlier UGC Regulations provided for ad-hoc appointments as such but this provision was allowed in the best interest of colleges and teachers. In 2014 after the withdrawal of FYUP,  the UGC had directed the University to give rejoining of ad-hoc teachers. The DUTA has written numerous letters to the UGC and MHRD from time to time on several issues related to adhoc teachers including the uncertainties they have recently faced during controversy over teaching Roster or implementation of EWS. In fact, the DUTA has been raising the demand for a one-time Regulation for Absorption of all temporary and adhoc teachers. It hence perplexes us to see that without any cause, you have unilaterally issued the 28 August 2019 letter which has the potential to destabilize and severely compromise the quality of teaching-learning across colleges and departments. We also wish to point out that to treat guest appointment as a viable model of employment is equally unfortunate as these teachers do not have any rights.  Moreover, guest faculty have a very limited role to play in the day to day processes of teaching, continuous evaluation, practicals and conduct of examinations. The University has hence always deemed it necessary to limit guest appointments to maximum 10% of the sanctioned strength, in order to cover short-term exigencies. In the absence of adequate permanent faculty, adhoc teachers have mainly shouldered the academic and co-curricular responsibilities across colleges and departments.

The 28 August letter is hence an impulsive move that has far reaching adverse consequences. It is an attack on the teaching profession itself. We demand that this crisis be ended by its withdrawal. We demand that all serving ad-hoc teachers be given renewal and their salaries be released.

By not releasing Options form and Promotion proforma for implementation of CAS 2018, the administration has been insensitive to legitimate aspirations of career advancement of teachers. Teachers who were denied promotions for over a decade because of a faulty API-PBAS scheme had fought for its removal. It is extremely unfortunate that not only did the University delay adoption of the 2018 UGC Regulations by a year, but now, by not bringing out necessary forms, it is preventing its just implementation.

We demand that the report on Counting of past services be brought to the Executive Council for discussion and matter be resolved in favour of teachers. Counting of past services was yet another good practice which DU had adopted for retaining talent. The UGC finally took cognizance of this and included it the UGC Regulations of 2018.

The University has received grant towards EWS Expansion in June 2019. It is extremely unfortunate that despite understanding the consequences of implementation of EWS reservation in terms of its adverse impact for student-teacher ratio and displacement of ad-hoc teachers, the University did not prioritise the distribution of additional teaching posts to colleges. The DUTA demands that the implementation of EWS reservation be kept in abeyance till such times that newly sanctioned posts are given to colleges. The DUTA demands that there should not be any displacement of ad-hoc teachers because of EWS reservation.

We find the recent letter issued by the Dean, Examination to the Principals seeking information of invigilation duties unfortunate. The crisis cannot be resolved through intimidation and high-handed behaviour; the University must principally adopt a genuinely dialogic mode to comprehend the collective unrest and address it in a manner that paves the way for sustainable resolutions and the restoration of mutual confidence.

We hope that the University will take concrete steps towards meeting these demands as their resolution is long overdue.  Teachers of Delhi University are committed to their work and students and it is only with great difficulty that the collective have decided to go for complete boycott of official work starting from 4 December if the issues remain unresolved.

Warm regards

Rajib Ray President, DUTA Rajinder Singh Secretary, DUTA