DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh quits over FYUP row

Delhi Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh on Tuesday resigned from his post following the ongoing controversy over the four year university programme. Singh, who has been at logger heads with the University Grants Commission over the implementation of the programme, faced immense opposition from the Delhi University Teachers Association as well as various student bodies. [caption id=“attachment_1586563” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former Delhi University VC Dinesh Singh. IBNLive[/caption] Reacting to the development, Delhi University Teachers Association President Nandita Narain said a mere resignation would not help and further action against Singh was needed. “Aaction should be taken against him.. there needs to be a full enquiry. He cannot get away by just resigning. Students and teachers have suffered because of him,” Narain  said. “This is the beginning of the end of the Delhi University’s autonomy,” an unidentified representative told CNN-IBN. Meanwhile, a group of teachers who were backing Singh termed his decision to quit as unfortunate and, saying he was forced to quit by under pressure from the HRD Ministry. The Congress, too, did not miss the opportunity to target the NDA government. “The manner in which the NDA has dealt with the issue is abominable. If this is going to be the attitude of the NDA government towards educational institutions then god so help this country,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said. The UGC had recently ordered the VC to scrap the FYUP and continue with its three-year undergraduate programme, threatening to cut funding to the University if it failed to comply. The university, however, did not send any communication to UGC about abiding by its direction. The directive from UGC came with DU having struck a defiant note as it refused to implement its earlier order asking that admissions be conducted under the three-year programme, UGC officials said. After an emergency meeting of the Principals Association of Delhi University, its president SK Garg announced that they had decided to defer the admission process, which was to begin on Tuesday, until clear-cut guidelines are issued by the competent authority regarding the matter.