The Union minister enquired about the reasons behind the teachers and students protesting the move in both the colleges, says Source
Representatives from Delhi University's St Stephen's and Hindu College were invited for a meeting with Union Education Minister Prakash Javadekar at the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to discuss Centre's autonomy move, on Tuesday.
Sources said the Union minister enquired about the reasons behind the teachers and students protesting the move in both the colleges. He also assured both the parties that the move will neither lead to any "fee hike" nor cause any "fund cut" from the University Grants Commission (UGC), said officials, who were present during the one-and-a-half long meeting.
During the meeting, officials from Hindu College pointed out that the DU Act needs to be amended for a college to take autonomy in the University. The Act makes it compulsory for the colleges to take University's permission for several developmental works. "The Minister asked the UGC to take legal advise on the matter and said that autonomy will be not be imposed on any of the colleges," said a senior official at Hindu College.
Besides, sources said that Javadekar also asked the UGC to constitute a committee, also comprising the college representatives, to look into the issue.
From Hindu College's side, a total of 11 members, including the principal, attended the meeting. "We asked the ministry about our several doubts related to autonomy. They want to give us autonomy but we will not even consider it unless our all doubts are resolved, forget about passing the resolution," said Dr Ashok Mittal, advisor to Hindu College Governing Body.
"We took our teaching, non-teaching staff members and student representatives so that they can seek answers to all their queries," he said. While Hindu College Principal, Anju Shrivastava denied to comment on the issue, officials from St Stephen's did not respond to the calls.
The teachers and students of both St Stephen's and Hindu College have been protesting against the administration's decision to seek autonomy saying it will lead to "massive fee hike" and "privatisation" of higher education.
The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has also written to the HRD Ministry and the UGC expressing their disapproval for the move.
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