University of Delhi: In further development to the ongoing scuffle between the University colleges and the Delhi Government, the teachers at the Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies observed a hunger strike on October 02, 2020. The teachers protested against the non-payment of salaries by the Delhi Government for five months in a row.
The teachers iterated that they had been forced to sit on the hunger-strike by the AAP-led Delhi Government, which rose to power through dharnas and demonstration during ‘India Against Corruption’ movement. They demanded the salary grant for the last five months be released soon to let the employees meet their daily expenses. The regular functioning of the college has been smooth as usual including the daily lectures and other campus work, but the teachers and the non-teaching staff have not been paid any salaries for the last five months.
While Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Education Minister, addressed the tussle in September, alleging that the four colleges: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Keshav Maha Vidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, have misappropriated funds, the teachers welcomed any audit by the Delhi Government, but asked to not withhold their salaries amidst this scuffle.
[The above-mentioned four colleges are among the 12 DU colleges which are fully-sponsored or 100% funded by the Delhi Government.]
The teachers mentioned the curb on the salary grant was not a solution to the allegations by the Delhi Government and hoped for prevalence of ‘a better sense on the administration’. The Student Council of the college has also come forward to support the ‘fight’ put up by the teaching and non-teaching staff of the college.
