Amid the ongoing admission process, the Centre on Wednesday suspended Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi on the orders of President Ram Nath Kovind. The President has also directed initiation of an enquiry against Tyagi over allegations of dereliction of duty.
The move by the Ministry of Education (MoE) comes amid a power tussle in the Central university. The President, who is the Visitor to the university, has placed Tyagi under suspension to ensure that the enquiry is fair and that he is not able to tamper with material records or coerce the witnesses, an MoE official order said.
“All orders issued by or issued with the approval of Tyagi during the period of his absence on medical ground are set aside and to be treated as null and void,” the official said.
Tyagi has been on leave since July 2 when he was admitted to AIIMS under emergency medical condition. The Government had on July 17 given Pro-VC PC Joshi the charge of VC, until Tyagi resumes office.
“The Vice Chancellor is not administering the university in accordance with (statutory) provisions...which has caused mis-governance and malfunctioning of University of Delhi. This is not conducive for appropriate academic as well as administrative environment of the university,” said a four-page order by the MoE.
“The President of India in his capacity as Visitor of the University, on consideration of facts and material available on record, has ordered to conduct an enquiry into the allegations of dereliction of duties and lack of commitment and devotion to duty against him. The President has also been pleased to place Tyagi under suspension with immediate effect until further orders as he may influence/coerce the witnesses and tamper with the material records of the university so as to ensure fair enquiry,” and MoE official said.
A controversy erupted last week when Tyagi removed Joshi as pro-VC on Thursday and appointed Geeta Bhatt, the director of the Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board of the university, in his place.
Joshi had, meanwhile, notified the appointment of a new Registrar, Vikas Gupta, whose interview had been completed and appointment cleared by the executive council on Wednesday.
However, the same day, Tyagi had approved and notified the appointment of PC Jha as Acting Registrar and director of the South Campus.
The Ministry then intervened in the power tussle between the Vice Chancellor and the pro-Vice Chancellor, saying appointments made by Tyagi were not “valid” as he is on leave.
The power tussle intensified with Jha writing to the Ministry citing himself as “acting Registrar” and saying all decisions taken by Tygai are in accordance with university norms. The Ministry took objection to the letter and directed the varsity to take strict action against him.
Other charges against Tyagi include inordinate delays in appointments of Registrar, Principals of various colleges and his “biases” towards the colleges governed by the Delhi Government.
MoE officials said Tyagi remained incommunicado to the teachers and staff of 12 colleges who are agitating over non-payment of salary for several months, including during the corona pandemic. The teachers went to court and for a relief.
Tyagi always remained conspicuous by his absence than his actions. “The issue of non-payment of salary should have been taken by the V-C with the Delhi Government. Any other V-C would have defended his teachers and taken up the matter with the Centre,” mentioned the professor.
At one point of time the Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia claimed that the crisis was Tyagi’s making. “The Vice-Chancellor functions via a council of Deans, Directors and Pro-VCs. S/he is assisted by the Registrar and Finance Officer in administrative matters. DU, all through Tyagi’s tenure, has not seen a fully-functional team and the appointed people have also been holding other responsibilities,” added the professor.
“Can a university be governed in such an ad hoc manner without facing academic setbacks? DU, in the past few years, has been living just on its traditions and the past laurels. Several colleges are functioning under officiating principals. In most colleges, the teaching-learning work is being done by ad hoc faculty members. During the present V-C’s tenure, we saw students protest against the lack of teaching-learning infrastructure for the first time,” said another professor from north campus of DU.
