NEW DELHI: Delhi University has received a letter from the human resource development (HRD) ministry asking it to amend its statutes and make School of Open Learning (SOL) a university-affiliated college.
The letter was sent on February 18 along with another letter from University Grants Commission (UGC) dated January 2018. Once the change is approved by DU’s executive council (EC), SOL’s executive director will be redesignated as a principal. The academic council (AC) is likely to take up the matter on June 22, and following its approval, it will be sent to EC.
The ministry’s letter followed a DU communication for the resolution of the issue of approval of SOL’s teaching and non-teaching positions pending since 2013. DU wrote to the ministry to ensure that SOL gets 100% funds from UGC as a university-maintained college, stated an AC meeting document. This will also help streamline SOL’s admission process.
Janmejoy Khuntia, secretary of SOL’s staff council, however, said that in 1999, the then NDA government had approved DU’s request to convert School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education into a department. According to a university document, School of Correspondence was converted into SOL, as a university-maintained constituent college, in 2004. But Khuntia said it was not converted into a department. “Many went to court against this. That case is still on and DU is claiming that 96 positions will be filled up.”
Khuntia alleged that the post of the executive director was created to present SOL as a department. “But UGC doesn’t accept it as a department and doesn’t give it grants. The university and the VC should go by the norms and complete the process of converting it into a department,” he added.
V K Agarwal, the head of DU’s finance committee, has also written to UGC and the vice-chancellor not to go ahead with the change as it will amount to the violation of a presidential order.
The letter was sent on February 18 along with another letter from University Grants Commission (UGC) dated January 2018. Once the change is approved by DU’s executive council (EC), SOL’s executive director will be redesignated as a principal. The academic council (AC) is likely to take up the matter on June 22, and following its approval, it will be sent to EC.
The ministry’s letter followed a DU communication for the resolution of the issue of approval of SOL’s teaching and non-teaching positions pending since 2013. DU wrote to the ministry to ensure that SOL gets 100% funds from UGC as a university-maintained college, stated an AC meeting document. This will also help streamline SOL’s admission process.
Janmejoy Khuntia, secretary of SOL’s staff council, however, said that in 1999, the then NDA government had approved DU’s request to convert School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education into a department. According to a university document, School of Correspondence was converted into SOL, as a university-maintained constituent college, in 2004. But Khuntia said it was not converted into a department. “Many went to court against this. That case is still on and DU is claiming that 96 positions will be filled up.”
Khuntia alleged that the post of the executive director was created to present SOL as a department. “But UGC doesn’t accept it as a department and doesn’t give it grants. The university and the VC should go by the norms and complete the process of converting it into a department,” he added.
V K Agarwal, the head of DU’s finance committee, has also written to UGC and the vice-chancellor not to go ahead with the change as it will amount to the violation of a presidential order.
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