DUTA alleges violation of rules in appointment of HODs

New Delhi: The Delhi University Teachers` Association (DUTA) on Tuesday alleged that the principle of rotation has been violated by the varsity in appointment of the heads of departments.

"The principle of rotation laid down under Ordinance XXIII in appointment of Heads of Departments in several cases has been violated in a completely non-transparent manner in the past few years," DUTA President Nandita Narain claimed in a statement. Ordinance XXIII (1) stipulates that "The Head of the Department shall be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor by observing, as far as possible, the principle of rotation." The latest example of such arbitrary use of powers has come to light in the Department of Geology where JP Srivastava has been refused the position of HOD by the varsity twice, Narain claimed. Professor CS Dubey was appointed HOD of the Geology department on June 1, 2011. On expiry of his term on June 2, his term was extended till further orders even though the ordinance does not provide for any such extension. Dubey is currently also Director, Campus of Open Learning and therefore a member of the Vice-Chancellor`s team - Chairman, Delhi University Sports Council, and Dean, Faculty of Science. Bypassing JP Srivastava, Devesh Kumar Sinha, six years junior to Srivastava, has now been appointed as the Head, Geology Department for three years. "DUTA urges the Visitor to intervene urgently and institute a comprehensive enquiry into the numerous examples of blatant violations of all rules and regulations and large-scale academic and administrative misgovernance," the statement said.