A day after it stopped funding 28 Delhi University (DU) colleges over the varsity’s delay in appointing governing bodies, the Delhi government on Tuesday asked the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) to conduct an audit of the colleges to “check for irregularities”.
The 28 colleges are either fully or partially funded by the Delhi government, which on Monday ordered a freeze on all funds to the institutes.
‘No oversight’
In a letter to the Comptroller and Auditor-General, Shashi Kant Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, said that due to the university’s delay in appointing governing bodies for the past 10 months, there had been no oversight of their functioning.
He added that he had received complaints about irregularities in appointment of teachers in these colleges, including a letter by BJP MP for north-west Delhi Udit Raj.
Recounting the repeated reminders sent to the university since the term of the previous governing bodies had ended in October last year, Mr. Sisodia wrote: “As a consequence of this seemingly deliberate and mala fide delay, there has been no financial or procedural oversight and monitoring of these colleges”.
Each of the 10-member governing bodies have members nominated by the government and the university.
Mr. Sisodia has asked the CAG to audit the spending, the procedure of regular and ad-hoc appointments, and regulatory and administrative actions taken by the university with respect to the 28 colleges in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
‘Interviews were fixed’
In his letter to Mr. Sisodia, Mr. Raj said he had received a complaint about “manipulation” in the interviews held for ad-hoc teaching posts by the “principal and her coterie” on July 11 at Maitreyi College, one of the institutes funded by the government.
An Assistant Professor of the English Department, Dr. Smriti Singh, who was a part of the interviewing panel, had alleged that the interviews had been fixed and that the merit of candidates was not considered.
Dr. Singh said on Tuesday that her complaints about the issue had been ignored. “A total of 194 candidates appeared for the interviews. It was unfair to them that the selection had been pre-determined. Better candidates were over-looked,” she said.
The principal of the college, Dr. Savita M. Datta, could not be reached for comment.
