DU student fund row: HC issues notice to 12 Delhi University affiliated colleges
Nov 05, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 5 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notices to 12 colleges affiliated with the Delhi University and fully funded by the Government of NCT Delhi on a petition challenging a Delhi government order directing to pay the outstanding salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff from the Student Society Fund (SSF).
A single-judge bench of Justice Jyoti Singh, while seeking the response of these colleges, slated the matter for further hearing on November 9.
On the last date of hearing, the High Court had refused to vacate an interim order which stayed the Delhi government decision directing the colleges to pay salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff from the SSF and asked the petitioner (Delhi University Student Union) to make the 12 colleges party to the case as their stands in the matter are also important.
The Delhi University Student Union had earlier submitted that the Directorate of Higher Education has directed the 12 colleges, which are 100 per cent funded by the Delhi government, to exhaust and utilise the funds gathered by the students.
Advocate Jivesh Tiwari, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the order passed by the Delhi government has led to the violation of the guidelines that are followed for the functioning of such colleges, and the Delhi University Rules are not accorded therein aggrieving numerous faculty members and students collectively. Advocate Akanksha Kaul appearing for the Delhi University supported the stand of the petitioner.
The plea further stated that as per the UGC guidelines only 11 heads can be included as income and 34 heads for expenditure. It further states that for paying the salaries only those heads which are under "income" head can be used for paying salaries.
The 12 colleges include Acharya Narendra Dev College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya Women's College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maharshi Valmiki College of Education, and Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women.
"The order directing the usage of the Students Society Fund for the payment of outstanding salaries instead of the release of grant in aid and appropriate funding is found entirely illegal and arbitrary," the plea said.
"The UGC Guidelines for the Non-Plan Norms for Delhi Colleges has described the heads of the Incomes and the Expenditures where there is no mention of SSF or its usage for any purpose in the Maintenance Grant," it added.
