Nandita Narain, president of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), has moved the High Court in connection with the setting up of a fact-finding committee by the university to investigate complaints received against her.
A professor at St. Stephen’s College, Ms. Narain filed a petition in the Court on Monday. Though she was required to be present before the committee on Monday, she skipped it and went ahead to challenge it instead.
She said that the committee’s call to summon her in a hurry was part of a “malicious” agenda.
“I informed them that I cannot appear today as I was in court. I have sought legal opinion. Instead of cooperating they kept on insisting that I appear before them through written communication, which is insulting and derogatory,” Ms. Narain said.
The committee reportedly sent Ms. Narain a message: “It takes cognizance of the unapproved absence from the appointed time for hearing you. This is a serious lapse, yet the FFC is willing to grant you another opportunity to appear before it at 2 p.m.”
While Ms. Narain had communicated in an email and through SMS that she would unable to appear at 11 a.m. on Monday, she did not appear before the committee at 2 p.m. as well.
The FFC further deferred the time till 3 p.m., but Ms. Narain did not show up.
She has instead sought two weeks time to be able to gather papers and put together her response.
It was in 2014 that Delhi University had set up a fact-finding committee to look into complaints received against Ms. Narain from three DU colleges.
The summons from the committee were issued only this year — that too quite close to V-C Dinesh Singh’s last day in office — which is what has irked Ms. Narain.
Nandita Narain has challenged the setting up of a committee to investigate the complaints received against her
