Eleven teachers of Delhi University’s Academics for Action and Development on Tuesday wrote to the university’s Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh seeking his “necessary intervention” after the College of Art (CoA) started its admission process as a part of the Ambedkar University. The CoA offers master’s and bachelor’s courses in fine arts. In the letter, the 11 teachers, including members of the varsity’s Executive Council (EC) and Academic Council (AC), said such an “unfortunate action” is in contravention of the Acts and Statutes of the Delhi University (DU).
This comes amid an ongoing tussle between the Delhi University and the Delhi government over the affiliation of the art college. In March last year, the Delhi government announced that CoA would be affiliated with Ambedkar University, as the college was facing various problems.
The Ambedkar University (AUD) is a Delhi government-funded university. Admissions could not be held at CoA during the last academic session due to an affiliation issue. DU academic council member Alok Pandey said Ambedkar University recently held a meeting in which it announced that admission to CoA will begin as part of the AUD.
The letter noted that the AUD’s action violates the decision of the Executive Council which has duly rejected the de-affiliation of the College of Arts from the Delhi University.
“It should be noted here that the Lt Governor has ruled that any such step towards merger is subject to ‘the de-affiliation of College of Arts from Delhi University,” the letter mentioned. Calls and texts to AUD Vice-Chancellor Anu Singh Lather went unanswered. Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh said the DU has asked CoA to conduct admission as a part of the Delhi University.
“I am not aware of it (CoA starting admission under AUD). But we have asked the College of Arts to conduct it as a part of Delhi University. We are waiting,” he said. Early this month, The Delhi University Teachers’ Association claimed that students seeking admission to the College of Art through the varsity’s National Testing Agency (NTA) portal are unable to register as it is not shown in the list of colleges. In April, the DU had asked the CoA to start the admission process and had informed the college that it will not be de-affiliated from the university.
The office of the Lieutenant governor had earlier given in-principle approval to the merger of the College of Art with the state-run Ambedkar University subject to its de-affiliation from the DU. However, the Executive Council of the university, which is its highest decision-making body, refused to de-affiliate the college.
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