Delhi varsity teachers urge president to stop semester system
By IANSThursday, June 3, 2010
NEW DELHI - A delegation of the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) Thursday met President Pratibha Patil, urging her to institute an inquiry against the vice chancellor for allegedly violating the University Act and implementing the semester system for the under-graduate science courses.
“We met the president and urged her to institute an inquiry against vice chancellor Deepak Pental under the DU Act, Section 7-A (2) for committing gross violations of the act in implementing the semester system for the science courses,” DUTA president Aditya Narayan Mishra, who was a member of the delegation, said.
“We also requested the president to immediately withhold the implementation of the semester system in the science courses in the capacity of Visitor of the university,” he added.
Mishra said the president assured them “that she will look into the matter and take appropriate action”.
According to a DUTA statement, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury also accompanied the delegation.
A whole lot of drama has unfolded in DU over the implementation of the semester system. Amid much protest from various departments over the proposed syllabi, the vice chancellor recently announced that 12 under-graduate science courses will follow the semester system from the next academic session begining July.
Other courses, he said, will follow suit over a period of time.
“Pental has usurped the powers of the statutory authorities of the university, namely the executive council and the academic council. Without placing the syllabi of the 12 science courses in front of the Executive Council and the B.Sc. Electronics (honours) syllabi in front of the academic council and the executive council and without issuing ordinances for the same, he has on his own directed the colleges to implement semester system in these courses,” the DUTA statement said.
“Pental has, therefore, not just taken the executive council and the academic council but also the Visitor (President of India) for granted and implemented the semester system on his own,” it added.
