Vice-Chancellor of Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) Anu Singh Lather on Tuesday said that the Delhi government had asked the university to begin the admission process for the 2022-23 academic session for the College of Art (CoA) and that the university had issued a notification for the same.
The CoA was under Delhi University until March last year when the controversy started. The Delhi government announced that that the Delhi Cabinet had approved the merger of Delhi University’s College of Arts, functioning under the Directorate of Training and Technical Education of the State government with AUD.
Against de-affiliation
The Executive Council of Delhi University, after forming a committee to look into the matter in September 2021, had decided in April not to permit the de-affiliation of the college and asked the CoA to start the admission process.
Ms. Lather said, “We had been given orders by the Delhi government to start the admission process. Even last year, it was a no-admission year as DU took time to start the de-affiliation. We have been given no further orders apart from conducting the admission for the upcoming session.”
Eleven teachers of Delhi University’s Academics for Action and Development (AAD) have written to Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University Yogesh Singh asking him to intervene in the issue and conduct the admission to CoA under DU. Students and teachers had earlier pointed out that while filling the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to DU, the CoA was not available as an option.
Unfortunate action
The members of the AAD in their letter said, “Such an unfortunate action is in contravention of the Acts and statutes of Delhi University and also violates the decision of the Executive Council which has duly rejected the de-affiliation of College of Arts from Delhi University.
It should be noted here that the L-G has clearly ruled that any such step towards merger with AUD is subject to 'the de-affiliation of College of Arts from Delhi University' .”
The members requested Mr. Singh to make necessary intervention to stop the dismemberment of the University of Delhi and to start the admission process of College of Arts for the academic sessions 2021-22 and 2022-23 under the aegis of Delhi University as per the decision of the Executive Council.
The College of Art is an institution established in 1942 for advanced training in Visual Art (Creative and Applied) leading to the Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) and Master in Fine Art (MFA) degrees of the University of Delhi and has been affiliated to University of Delhi since its inception.
‘Faulty process’
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) said, “As per the Act of the University of Delhi, CoA can’t be affiliated to AUD or any other university in Delhi. Therefore, the admission notice issued by AUD is faulty and illegal. The University of Delhi has not granted its NoC for the de-affiliation of the College of Arts, hence, closing/shifting this institution unilaterally by the Delhi government is an academic disaster for the college,” the DUTA said.
The DUTA called for a meeting of the Executive Council to consider and adopt a resolution to take over the College of Art if the Delhi government is reluctant to fund the premier college.
