DU Teachers March to CM Kejriwal’s Residence against Pattern of Assistance, Delayed Salaries

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association on Wednesday took out a protest rally from the Vice Chancellor’s office to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in New Delhi demanding withdrawal of the recent 'Pattern of Assistance' document and timely release of Grant-in-Aids, among others.

Raising issues concerning 12 Delhi University colleges that are 100% government-funded, the protesters demanded revocation of the Delhi Government order that deployed Senior Administrative Officers in charge of these colleges.

The organisers of the protest said that Wednesday’s rally was attended by a large numbers of teachers. The DUTA warned the Delhi government that it would not tolerate harassment of the employees of these colleges and would intensify its agitation in the coming days if their demands were not met.

Earlier on March 11 the teachers had started a strike to shut down DU on the same issue. Afterwards, they held the ‘Adhikar Rally’ to the chief minister’s residence on March 15 and another to the Lt Governor’s office on March 18.

“Employees of these 12 Delhi University colleges have lost faith in Delhi Government as it has not been timely releasing Grant-in-Aids so necessary for paying salaries, pensions and reimbursement of medical and other bills. The DUTA has organised several action programs and also written several times in the past to both Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Shri. Manish Sisodia on this matter,” the teachers’ association said in a statement after the rally.

DUTA said that the additional grants and posts promised by CM Kejriwal to the heads of the 12 colleges in a meeting held on March 16 have not yet been delivered. “This will again lead to financial crises in these colleges as they will not be paid salaries of February and there will also not be any settlement of long pending dues,” the statement read, asking the Delhi Government for the assurance that such delays would not be repeated and Grant-in-Aids would be released quarterly.

Asking for an immediate withdrawal of the Pattern of Assistance document that Delhi government has been “forcing’ the colleges to adopt, DUTA said the document was a prelude to “massive restructuring of these colleges that would inevitably lead to dismemberment of these colleges from Delhi University.”

The association underlined that such “unilateral reworking” of the Pattern of Assistance without involving other stakeholders including Delhi University and college employees was “unethical and illegal.”

The protesting teachers also sought an immediate rescindment of the Order of Finance Department issued in February assigning Senior Administrative Officers in additional charge of the 12 DU colleges. Their statement said, “The Office of the Principal is competent enough to look on these matters. We strongly object to such excessive interference in the day to day working of these colleges.”