By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notices to Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Deepak Paintal and the Delhi University Teachers’ Association on a plea seeking curbs on funding for colleges opposed to the new semester system.
The plea sought a direction to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw all funding of those colleges that did not take immediate steps to make their teachers follow the semester system.
The public interest litigation (PIL) also sought direction to the university to take disciplinary action against the erring teachers opposed to the implementation of semester system at the undergraduate level in the 13 science courses in the current academic year.
Petitioner and retired defence employee M.R. Gupta said the university must implement its policy of ‘no work no pay’ against teachers who were resorting to strikes against the semester system.
The petition said that due to opposition by teachers, the system could not be implemented in various colleges, affecting the career of around 8,000 students.
“These teachers have adopted an adamant attitude and continue to go by the old annual system for teaching students and follow the old syllabi while doing so,” the petition said.
“These teachers are doing so deliberately and are being supported in this and even incited by the DUTA,” said the petition.
The first semester examinations were scheduled to be held Nov 20-Dec 10 but the university has now announced that these would be conducted from Dec 6.
“Those students who have taken admissions to colleges where the semester system has not been implemented so far would suffer in relation to their counterparts in other colleges. The young students who have just entered these colleges are thus being thrown into a state of uncertainty at the very threshold of their careers,” said the petition.
The court in its direction in August 2010 directed the university to implement the semester system.
The university was told to take action action those teachers who fail to teach according to the system.