St Stephen's college warns teachers for criticising decision on admission panel
New Delhi: Delhi University's St Stephen's College on Tuesday sent warning letters to three of its governing body members for condemning the inclusion of a member of the institution's Supreme Council in the interview panel for selection of students. In a statement, the three members of the governing body had objected to the inclusion of a member of its Supreme Council in the interview panel, saying it is a violation of the college constitution.
The three members –Nandita Narain of Department of Mathematics, NP Ashley of Department of English and Abhishek Singh of Department of Economics had condemned the "illegal and unacademic decision taken by the Principal". "This could compromise the academic integrity of our admissions process," they said while demanding its withdrawal.
The warning letters sent to the three members said they (the trio) issued "false and irresponsible comments to the media." In the warning letters issued by college principal Professor John Varghese, the teachers have been "advised not to repeat such irresponsible and unbecoming behaviour in future," failing which college will take appropriate action against them.
"The said guidelines were duly reported in the Governing Body held on March 14, 2019 in the presence of the teachers representatives," the letter issued to the teachers read.
"In the light of the above, I am shocked to see that you deliberately chose to ignore the facts and your press release is a complete concoction, factually and legally incorrect, and therefore it is against the code of professional ethics and the ethos of this institution," the letter read.
The letter also accused the teachers of falsely claiming that the decision was undertaken by the principal. The decision, the letter claimed, was of the Supreme Council, "which has the sole power to decide on the admission policy as the College is a Christian minority institution."
Meanwhile, the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) accused St. Stephen's college principal of its arbitrary and vindictive conduct to silence criticism of wholly undesirable non-academic intrusion in selection of candidates for admission to the college. "The college administration has threatened further action if they persisted with expressing their critical views," the DUTA said.
"The decision of including Fathers from Church ( Members of Supreme counsel) to admission committee is arbitrary and condemnable. This would weaken the secular fabric of the university. This is not only against the constitution of the college but also against the principles laid down in India's constitution," said, Sidharth Yadav, state secretary, ABVP Delhi. He also said that the if the decision is not withdrawn, the ABVP would be forced to mobilise large student community to raise voice against this autocratic decision.
