The teaching and non-teaching staff of 12 colleges of Delhi University (DU), wholly funded by the Delhi government, have not received their salaries for several months.
The employees are pleading with the University Grants Commission (UGC) to take these colleges into their own hands.
These DU colleges include Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maharshi Valmiki College, Indira Gandhi Play Colleges, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Sister Nivedita College, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Science and Keshav Mahavidyalaya.
The employees say that their salaries can hardly be paid with the financial grant from the Delhi government. These colleges also have guest teachers and contractual staff, who get Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 per month, and many have not been paid for the past two months. According to the teachers, they are working without pay.
Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) says that ad-hoc teachers working in these 12 colleges are being described as ghost employees by the state government.
DUTA has demanded that these ad-hoc and temporary teachers be accommodated by bringing a bill in the Delhi Assembly.
The teachers body has also demanded immediate release of 25 per cent seats under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota.
DUTA has urged the central government to bring 28 colleges funded and administered by the Delhi government directly under the UGC.
Delhi University Executive Council member and advocate Ashok Agarwal has said that non-payment of salaries to teachers and employees is against the right to earn a living. He said that he is ready to help and cooperate legally in this matter.
Earlier, DUTA President Professor AK Bhagi has said that the Delhi government wants to get rid of these 12 colleges by making economic cuts. “Kejriwal released the grant in January before the Punjab elections, and then started withholding the grant as soon as the elections were over,” he said.
According to Bhagi, this year’s proposed budget is less than last year’s salary budget. “Nothing less than a permanent solution to this problem will be acceptable,” he said.
DUTA says that in the midst of the Corona crisis, the teachers continued to teach the students. He organized online classes and assisted in organizing activities required for teaching and training. However, “as a result of the reckless attitude and prejudicial thinking of the Delhi government, more than 1,000 such teachers are worried about their salaries for the last two years”, the teachers body insisted.
In Delhi government-funded colleges, salaries are being released to teachers and staff with a delay of two to six months, while in all other DU colleges, which are funded by the central government, salaries are being disbursed on time.
Not only the teachers but also the non-teaching staff and contract workers of these colleges have faced financial crisis and it has become difficult for them to meet their daily expenses.
Even the Delhi Teachers’ Association (DTA), a teacher’s wing of the Aam Aadmi Party, has admitted that these colleges have been affected by “non-release of grants by the Delhi government”.
“This has not only affected salary payments, but also pending medical bills, retirement benefits and other development expenses,” DTA President Hansraj Suman told IANS.
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