DUTA Letter to VC: 20.11.2019 reg. AR Letter to Colleges

Professor Yogesh Tyagi                                                                                                         20.11.2019
Vice Chancellor
University of Delhi
Dear Professor Tyagi,

As you may know, the Assistant Registrar (Colleges) has sent a mail to all colleges for collecting booth level data from teachers without stating purpose. We apprehend that the data would be used by the office of the Election Commission to assign election duties to teachers in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly Elections.

As such, the teachers of Delhi University are overburdened with their primary obligations of teaching, conducting examinations and evaluating scripts along with other routine activities of college life. The election duties would not only hamper the teaching-learning process but also adversely affect the students who are studying in the semester mode. Teachers are also engaged in research work and various co-curricular and administrative tasks.

The DUTA would like to bring to your knowledge that an order issued by the Under – Secretary, EC vide memo number 464/INST/2009/EPS clearly states that *”Group A equivalent senior officers, including teaching staff of all universities, colleges should not be drafted for ‘polling duties’ in polling station premises without specific reasons to be recorded in writing by the District Election Officer, where such appointments become unavoidable.”*

In addition to this, the DUTA also feels that this letter is in violation of the political rights of the Central University teachers as they can become the part of any political party as well as contest elections. This has been witnessed on several occasions where they have been elected as MLAs, MPs and have become Ministers of State as well as Cabinet Ministers. In the light if this, the very purpose of deputing university and college teachers for carrying out official and unbiased duty would be defeated.

We, therefore, urge that the University communticates our concerns to the relevant authorities and places the matter before the Executive Council for discussion and decision.

Regards