Campus Jottings

The Delhi University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Deepak Nayyar, must surely rue the moment he confessed to being ``Left of the Centre'' in his first brush with the media after being selected to head the Capital's largest Central University. For, that statement of his -- made in a show of transparency -- is now being held against the academic-turned-administrator not just by those sitting on the Right end of the political spectrum.

The latest decision of the Executive Council stating that the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations would not be applicable to the backlog vacancies in posts earmarked for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes has resulted in Prof. Nayyar being accused of pursuing his ``Left of the Centre'' agenda by even the Academics for Action and Development (AAD) who in a broad sense of the term occupy the very same political space.

While the University has taken the plea that it was bound by a directive of the Department of Personnel, teachers are crying foul; stating that the decision would play havoc with academic and research activities.

As per the 81st Constitution Amendment Act 2000, the Department had clarified that the ceiling of 50 per cent on filling up of reserved vacancies would apply only to the reserved vacancies which arise in the current year, and the backlog reserved vacancies for SC/ST of earlier years would be treated as a separate and distinct group and would not be subject to any ceiling.

Of the view that the move would affect adversely admissions to post-graduate courses, the AAD chairman, Dr. S. S. Rathi, was quick to respond a day later with the observation that ``Delhi University being one of the leading centres of research activity could have sought exemption from reservation under this category''.

The AAD representative on the Executive Council, Ms. Vijaya Laxmi Singh, had also taken a similar view at the meeting held on Monday. Voicing her dissent, she pointed out that such a move would shut out openings for general category candidates for at least a decade.

But the University has countered the hysteria that is sought to be whipped up by clarifying that as per the ``post-based reservation for teaching, only every 7th vacancy will be reserved for SC and the 14th for ST''. ``Moreover, this is to be calculated within each department of the University and within each department in a college. Many departments, especially in colleges, are not large enough to have even a single post reserved.''

Still, it has cut no ice with the National Democratic Teachers Front issuing a statement today condemning the Vice-Chancellor for ``blindly implementing a directive of the Government without analysing its implications for the University''. Describing the move as ``academically suicidal for the University'', NDTF asserted that this decision would dislodge about 1,000 existing temporary and ad hoc teachers.

This when the dust has still not settled on the University's decision to have the eminent historian, Prof. Romila Thapar, as chief guest at the annual convocation in the last week of February. The National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF) has used this controversy to pin on Prof. Nayyar the charge of filling up key posts with Left-leaning individuals. And, this week also saw the BJP MP, Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, join the chorus of protests.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Teachers' Front has sought to describe this row as the manifestation of the frustration ``when academic merit displaces political intrigue in matters of appointment''. The DTF said the ``ploy is to dub any and all self-respecting liberals as Communists; the idea being that any academic who is not a Hindutva-wadi must be Red''.

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The Students Federation of India (SFI) has decided to carry out a signature campaign in all educational institutions this International Women's Day to press for the setting up of statutory bodies in all education institutions against sexual harassment and promote gender sensitivity.

With Jawaharlal Nehru University being the only university to put in place such a statutory body, the SFI has decided to bring pressure upon university administration from the students themselves through the signature campaign.

A memorandum demanding that the Supreme Court directive -- making it mandatory for all institutions to have such a committee in place -- be implemented in all educational institutions will be submitted to the university authorities and the Chief Ministers of all States along with the signatures at the end of the campaign.

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A workshop held at the Campus Law Centre (CLC) of Delhi University this past weekend to discuss the ``Consultation Papers of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution'' concluded on the note that the Commission should not review or redraft the Constitution, but only review its working.

While the CLC -- which organised the workshop -- has decided to forward the views and recommendations of the students to the Commission, the majority opinion is rather uncharitable towards this exercise that has already been questioned at several quarters.

Apart from asserting that changing the Constitution would not be without serious ramifications, participants also observed that till date the Commission had not produced any concrete recommendations which would have justified its very existence.

--- Anitha Joshua

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