New Delhi: Outgoing DU VC Dinesh Singh on Friday defended the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme, saying its rollback was not his "personal loss" even as he maintained that, contrary to the popular notion, all the approvals were obtained and views taken before its introduction.
"There is this impression that one fine day we woke up and decided that this needs to be done. No institution is run like this, you follow certain procedures and norms and it takes enormous efforts.
"I am often blamed that there was no consultation and procedures were bypassed in the context of FYUP. We adopted an elaborate methodology, all VCs in the university's history would not have together put in this much effort in consultation like we did," the Delhi University VC told reporters here.
"4,000 professors, 4,000 students and parents, 700 teachers were called for consultations at various stages and written feedback was taken from them.
"A three-day academic Congress was organised in which 1,200 teachers and experts, including sportspersons, from across the county participated and, then, with dissent of six out of 26 members, the programme was passed in the varsity's Academic Council (AC)," he added.
Singh has been at the loggerheads with the HRD ministry ever since the programme was rolled back last year in April after UGC's intervention.
While the issue of why the norms were bypassed during the programme's violation also found mention in the show-cause notice issued to Singh by the Ministry -- the first such instance in the varsity's history, the VC has maintained that the required approvals were obtained.
"It (FYUP) rollback wasn't my loss, it was the loss of society, institution and the country. Probably God did not want it, but the required approvals were there," he said.
Singh's tenure comes to an end on October 28 and he reiterated his desire of not continuing a day further in office.
