BJP urges LG to intervene as AAP govt stops funding of DU colleges

Delhi BJP leader Vijender Gupta Thursday urged Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to direct the AAP government to withdraw its directive to stop the funding of 28 DU colleges, fully or partly funded by it.

Gupta, leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly, met Baijal along with a delegation of National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF).

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the LG requesting him to direct deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to withdraw his letter dated April 16 to the Secretary, Higher Education stating that no funds should be given to the 28 colleges till they form their governing bodies.

Gupta claimed that the LG assured them that he would take up the matter with the Delhi government to resolve the impasse at the earliest.

Following Sisodia's letter to the Delhi University vice-chancellor, on April 23, the varsity wrote to the Directorate of Higher Education asking it to finalise the names to be nominated for the governing bodies of the colleges.

Responding to the letter, Sisodia said the university should have sent at least 400 names to the panel instead of just 188.

He also asked whether the names were cleared by the varsity's executive council and advised that the term of the existing governing bodies be extended.

A total of 12 colleges of the varsity including the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College and the Maharaja Agrasen College are fully-funded by the Delhi government.

On Thursday, a DU official said that the Delhi government has to first shortlist the names and send them back to the varsity which will then be vetted by the University's EC.