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FYUP row: HC says no to urgent hearing

by IBNS 25 Jun 2014, 10:57 am

New Delhi, June 25 (IBNS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to give an urgent hearing to two cross petitions over the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) row.

A vacation bench of justices Pratibha Rani and V Kameswar Rao said, "The matter requires effective hearing which can't be done by a vacation bench. It will be heard by the roster bench in July."

"We understand the situation. The admissions will not be affected. There will only be a few days' delay," the bench said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene into the FYUP row and directed the Delhi High Court to take up the case.

Former Delhi University (DU) Teachers Association president Aditya Narayan Mishra had approached the apex court against the  University Grants Commission (UGC) order on scrapping the FYUP.

The matter might be heard in the high court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, shortly after the SC order, DU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dinesh Singh resigned from his post over the issue.

DU teachers, favouring the FYUP, on Tuesday held a hunger strike as a mark of protest against the UGC and the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry over the issue.

"It is all a conspiracy. They want students to leave for private universities, 4500 teaching posts are still vacant, the hiring processes is still on. We are protesting against it," Mishra told CNN-IBN.

"The HRD and UGC are responsible for everything, who are they who want to run the university? The university does not run from political party offices. We are sitting on a hunger strike," he told the news channel.

On the other hand, the Delhi University Principals' Association on Tuesday said the admission process will begin in a few days, maximum a week.

Amid controversy over the FYUP of the DU, the colleges affiliated to the university deferred the admission to the academic session 2014-15 on Monday, media reports said.

According to reports, different student bodies protested against the FYUP system.

The UGC on Sunday directed the Delhi University and all colleges under it to admit students only under the three-year programme and not under FYUP.

The UGC also warned the institutions of facing 'consequences' if its directions are not followed by them.

"Implementation of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) was considered by the University Grants Commission in its 501st meeting held on 13th June, 2014, and after having regard to the various facts brought before it, including the fact that the FYUP was not in accordance with the 10+2+3 system of education enshrined in the NPE, 1986, the Commission decided to issue an advisory to the University of Delhi to reconsider/review the continuation of FYUP. The advisory was issued on 16 th June, 2014 to the University of Delhi," the UGC said in a statement on Sunday.

It said: "The Commission, while reiterating its directives of 20th June, 2014 to the University of Delhi, and noticing that the University of Delhi has not followed the procedure prescribed under the Delhi University Act, 1922, issued an order on 22nd June, 2014 to the University of Delhi and all the colleges under it that admission for academic year 2014-15 at the undergraduate level in the general degree programmes (including the Honours programme in different subjects of Humanities, Science and Commerce) in various colleges under the University of Delhi shall only be to the 3-year undergraduate programme which was offered prior to the introduction of the FYUP and further that under no circumstances shall theUniversity of Delhi or any of the colleges under it admit students to the FYUP for academic year 2014-15, and further that any deviation from this directive either by the University of Delhi or any of the colleges under it shall be deemed to be in contravention of the UGC Act, 1956 with its consequences."

In a letter addressed to the principals of all colleges under the Delhi University, the UGC said: "Appropriate arrangement shall be made by theUniversity of Delhi for students, already admitted in the academic year 2013-2014 under FYUP , to migrate to the three year undergraduateprogramme structure so that they do not lose an academic year for obtaining undergraduate degrees, and for this purpose, ensure that students acquire necessary academic  and other competence during the next two academic year."

According to the reports, the DU has refused to scrap the programme.