Delhi University has instituted a fact-finding committee to examine complaints against Nandita Narain, president of the varsity's teachers' body, even as she claimed it was a vindictive move by the outgoing VC.
"The university has constituted a Fact Finding Committee (FFC)... To ascertain whether the alleged acts of Narain prima facie amount to an act of misconduct under the statutes and ordinances of DU," said a notice issued by DU to Narain, who was last month re-elected as the President of Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA).
Narain, a mathematics professor at St Stephen's college has been asked to appear before the FFC on October 19.
Delhi University had in May this year written to St Stephen's, where Narain is a part of the faculty, highlighting the complaints against her, but the college had contended that the charges were not specific to it.
Therefore, DU would be the appropriate authority for initiating any action in the matter, it had said.
Some DU-affiliated institutions like Kalindi College, Deshbandhu College and the School of Open Learning (SOL) had complained to the varsity administration that Narain was interfering in their functioning.
Narain, meanwhile, cried foul over the constitution of the FFC, saying it was an orchestrated move by the outgoing Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, against whom DUTA has raised issues.
"It is strange that an inquiry has been instituted after over an year has passed since these incidents. This is an act of vindictiveness and not an attack on me but on DUTA. This is an orchestrated move by the VC whose removal has been demanded by us time and again," she said.
Narain has been at loggerheads with Singh and was leading a campaign demanding his removal from office over allegations of financial and administrative irregularities.
While DUTA had strongly campaigned against the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), which was rolled back last year, it had also released a white paper against Singh and sought the HRD ministry and the President's intervention in the matter.
Teachers have come out in Narain's support saying she has been teaching at Stephen's for over two decades and has actively highlighted alleged loopholes in the varsity's functioning and the authorities are deliberately trying to target her.
"This is just an attempt to reduce teachers' bodies into superficial bodies. We criticise such a move on the varsity or the college's part. No one can be penalised for raising the right issues," a varsity teacher said.
