Over 6,000 employees of Delhi University have sent a petition to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, urging him to find a permanent solution to funding issue of the 12 DU colleges that are fully funded by the Delhi government.
The teachers and staff of these 12 colleges said they have not been paid their salaries on time leading to financial distress, and violation of human and constitutional rights of the employees. The Delhi government had earlier said it had released ₹53.39 crore for these colleges in October-November last year and instead blamed the individual colleges for not paying their employees.
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) in a press conference on Thursday said the money released by the government had been utilised in paying salaries for the two years when the government had not released funds, which had caused a deficit of ₹4 crore to ₹34 crore in different colleges. The delay, DUTA members said, had resulted in salaries and other allowances getting delayed by two to six months.
Financial crunch
“Fund cuts have not only made payment of full salaries and other allowances and arrears impossible in these colleges, it also has made the general maintenance and growth of these colleges difficult,” DUTA members said, while announcing that they were going to intensify their agitation demanding the release of funds.
The DUTA also questioned the formation of a committee by the government to analyse fund utilisation by the colleges. “What is the point of formation of the committee? The committee will find details that have already been furnished by the colleges through their budgets that are approved by the governing bodies, which have elected members from AAP,” DUTA president A.K. Bhagi said. He added that financial audits conducted by the government had not found any serious shortcomings.
Mr. Bhagi said that teachers had sent several representations to the CM and Deputy CM and have also gone to court and the NHRC for the release of salaries, but have received only temporary solutions so far.
“Delhi government seems hell-bent to turn these colleges into financially sick institutions or in forcibly shifting them to switch to a self-financing mode with higher fee structure. AAP claims that they have started an education revolution in the Capital but the reality of the situation is that teachers are being asked to work without their salaries,” he added.
