DU teachers boycott classes, govt says allegations mala fide

Teachers from the Delhi University (DU) boycotted online classes on Thursday to protest against the delay in payment of salaries in 12 DU colleges funded by the Delhi government. The call for the strike was given by Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) and as part of the online strike on Thursday, teachers created a Twitter storm and asked the Delhi government to pay the arrears without further delay.

The issues of delayed payments and not releasing funds on time have been points of contention between the colleges and the Delhi government for the past few years. However, Delhi government on Thursday claimed that it has released all necessary funds and the delay was on the part of the colleges.

DUTA president Ajay Kumar Bhagi said the protest will continue on Friday as well and a public hearing will take place to highlight the concerns of teachers. The hearing will see the participation of political leaders of various parties besides the families of employees of these 12 colleges.

AAP MLA Atishi, chairperson, standing committee on education (Delhi assembly), said the allegations against the government were baseless and mala fide. She said the government has already released the funds to the 12 colleges and the last instalment — for salaries from January to March — will be transferred within the next 10 days. “A total of ₹53.49 crore was released by the Delhi government in October and November 2021 for the dispensation of salaries in the October-December 2021 quarter. Despite the funds being released by the government, the colleges seem adamant about not paying their teachers. This points towards a case of financial mismanagement,” said Atishi.

She added that the delay was at the end of colleges and asked the DU administration to look into the matter.