DU implements Rs 20 lakh group insurance for employees

Delhi University has implemented a Group Insurance Scheme with the Life Insurance Corporation of India providing Rs 20 lakh death relief coverage to employees during service. The amount is payable to nominees upon death.

The scheme was implemented after DU Executive Council member Aman Kumar raised the issue of insurance disparity at the May 2025 Executive Council meeting and formally demanded the reinstatement of coverage for all teaching staff, irrespective of their date of appointment.

A circular dated August 5, 2026, issued by the Joint Registrar of Colleges through College Branch-III, has informed Principals, Directors, and Provosts of all colleges, institutions, and hostels of the University of Delhi about the scheme’s implementation. The circular further directs all colleges to coordinate directly with LIC of India to implement a similar scheme for their own non-teaching staff, both permanent and contractual, and teaching staff, without any liability on the University.

Under the scheme implemented by DU vide Notification dated October 16, 2025, employees pay a monthly contribution of Rs 500 plus GST. The coverage of Rs 20 lakh is payable to the nominee in the event of an employee’s death during service. The circular specifies that there is no survival benefit, meaning the amount is payable only to eligible family members or the nominee in case of death in service, not upon retirement or resignation.

Aman Kumar, Executive Council and Court Member, University of Delhi, said he had exclusively raised the issue and pushed for its implementation. “I raised this issue and got it implemented in DU and colleges,” he said.

Kumar had submitted a formal note to Executive Council Meeting No 1275 on May 23, 2025, expressing concern over the continued absence of group insurance coverage for teaching faculty appointed in Delhi University and its constituent colleges after October 2013.

The Group Insurance Scheme, managed by LIC under Policy No 46796, had been discontinued for new entrants from October 2013, resulting in teachers appointed before that date retaining coverage while those appointed after had none, despite doing the same work in the same institutions.

Kumar’s note pointed out that the discontinuation had created a serious disparity among faculty members and deprived many of a critical element of social security. He noted that the importance of such coverage had become especially evident during unforeseen crises, citing the COVID-19 pandemic during which several members of the DU teaching community died, leaving families without insurance support.

The original scheme under Policy No 46796 provided Category A teaching faculty with a sum insured of Rs 8 lakh against a monthly contribution of Rs 800. In the event of natural death, the nominee received the sum insured along with a guaranteed savings amount.