Colleges affiliated to Delhi University (DU) on Monday deferred admissions to the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), a day after the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued a stern order, threatening them with “serious consequences” in case they went ahead with the FYUP.
The colleges chose to play safe in the wake of the UGC diktat, even though there was no word yet from the DU on whether it was abandoning the FYUP and reverting to the three-year undergraduate programme, as desired by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.
The decision to defer admissions cast uncertainty over the future of around 2 lakh students, who had applied for admissions for 2014-15.
“In view of the recent developments and the seriousness of the situation regarding the conflicting guidelines of Delhi University and UGC regarding admissions during 2014-2015, the Principal’s Association has no option but to resolve to defer the process of admissions till unambiguous guidelines are received by the colleges from the competent authority,” president of the DU Principals Association S K Garg said in a statement.
This came after the association held an emergency meeting in the wake of the UGC directive against the FYUP. Principals of only 36 colleges attended the meet while the UGC had issued letter to 64 colleges asking them to admit students under three-year UG programme offered in Delhi University before FYUP was introduced last year.
According to official sources, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has told the Delhi University to comply with the UGC order issued.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani held two meetings with UGC Chairman Ved Prakash on the issue amid protest by a section of DU students outside the Ministry’s building, demanding immediate rollback of the FYUP. She is learnt to have expressed her displeasure over the delay in scarping the FYUP by the DU authorities.
Though the officials claimed that the Ministry will not intervene on the issue, sources said DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh was asked to follow the UGC order and resolve the matter. This came when Singh met the UGC chairman in the presence of Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur.
“There is no legal validity for the FYUP as it was not approved by the President of India before it was rolled out. The DU should follow the UGC’s directive and immediately settle the matter,” a senior Ministry official said.
According to sources, DU vice chancellor also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to explain his view on the FYUP.
The Union Minister, however, suggested him to come up with a solution to put to rest the controversy over the implementation of FYUP since it was rolled out last year.