HC stays Delhi govt's order of paying pending salaries of DU colleges' teachers, staff from SSF

The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal government's order directing payment of the outstanding salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff of the 12 Delhi University colleges from the Student Society fund (SSF).

Justice Navin Chawla while putting a stay on the decision also issued notice to the respondents. The court also transferred the matter to another bench which already hearing a similar matter and posted it for hearing on November 2.

The petitioner, Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) stated that Directorate of Higher Education has directed the 12 Colleges which are 100 per cent funded by the Delhi Government to exhaust and utilize the funds gathered by the Students with respect to the Students Society Fund (SSF) maintained by the respective colleges for, and by the students it is the fund that has been raised by the students.

The plea has sought quashing of the order dated October 16.

Advocate Jivesh Tiwari appearing for the petitioner submitted that the order passed by the Delhi government has led to the violation of the guidelines that are followed for the functioning of such colleges and the Delhi University Rules are not accorded therein aggrieving numerous faculty members and students collectively.

Advocate Akanksha Kaul who appeared for the Delhi University too supported the stand of the petitioner.

The plea further states that as per the UGC guidelines only 11 heads can be included as income and 34 heads for expenditure. It further states that for paying the salaries only those heads which are under "income" head can be used for paying salaries.

It stated that 12 colleges, which have been directed by the Directorate of Higher Education and are 100 per cent funded by the Delhi Government to exhaust and utilize the funds gathered by the hard gotten money of students with respect to the SSF maintained by the respective colleges, are Acharya Narendra Dev College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya Women's College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maharshi Valmiki College of Education, and Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women.

It added that the order directing the usage of the Students Society Fund for the payment of outstanding salaries instead of the release of grant in aid and appropriate funding is found entirely illegal and arbitrary.

The UGC Guidelines for Non-Plan Norms for Delhi Colleges has described the heads of the Incomes and the Expenditures where there is no mention of SSF or its usage for any purpose in the maintenance grant.

( With inputs from ANI )