Over a hundred thousand students have become collateral damage in the war between the University Grants Commission and Delhi University.
In the absence of Delhi University (DU) clarifying its stand on the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) despite an order from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw it, this year's admission season has devolved overnight into unbridled chaos.
On Monday - just a day before the admission process was to kick off with the first cutoff list - DU colleges decided to defer the process till unambiguous guidelines are issued, leaving this year's aspirants and last year's 60,000 FYUP students in the lurch.
Citing a lack of clarity and conflicting guidelines, the Principals' Association (PA) announced its decision after holding an emergency meeting on Monday.
The meeting was attended by the principals of 36 colleges; the rest will be informed about the decision by the association.
"In view of the recent developments and the seriousness of the situation regarding the conflicting guidelines of the University of Delhi and University Grants Commission regarding admissions 2014-15, the Association has no option but to resolve to defer the process till unambiguous guidelines are received by the Colleges from the competent authority," said PA president S.K. Garg.
The university continues to maintain a studied silence on its final FYUP decision despite Sunday's warning of "consequences" from the UGC.
The DU website has, however, conveyed that FYUP is near-gone.
The website, which till Sunday mentioned FYUP, has now changed the term to Undergraduate Programme.
DU did, however, send out a letter on Monday to all its colleges about the UGC directives, saying that the commission's words were self-explanatory. The DU letter did not clear the air on the admissions process.
A day after the UGC's directives to all DU colleges, the university is yet to send a compliance report to the regulatory body.
While the directive is said to have Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani's backing, the minister on Monday said that "UGC was the supreme body and DU must comply with its orders".
Speaking after a meeting with UGC chairperson Ved Prakash, the minister made it clear that the HRD ministry would not intervene.
Sources said that the minister also expressed her displeasure at the delay in resolving the matter.
Outside, celebrations and melancholy went side by side as some celebrated the death of the FYUP and others pondered their future.
Student bodies, including the BJP's Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Congress's National Student's Union of India, took to the streets to celebrate their win.
"FYUP is now a thing of past. We promised students a rollback and that is what is happening," said ABVP's Rohit Chahal.
Those seeking admission this year were confused and angry.
"This is confusing as DU is not saying anything. I checked the website and it had no mention of FYUP but till the Vice-Chancellor does not announce anything we are going to be in the dark," said Rakesh Malhotra, an aspirant.
Repeated attempts to reach Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh failed. Singh was to chair a meeting of DU's Executive Council – the university's apex decision-making body – on Monday, but it has now been deferred indefinitely after the UGC's letter to colleges on Sunday.
The UGC had directed the University and its 64 colleges to admit students under the traditional three-year structure and not the FYUP.
The UGC had also published a public notice informing students, parents and members of the public that the FYUP is not in consonance with the National Policy on Education (1986) and the 10+2+3 structure envisaged under it, and that the University has not followed the procedure prescribed in the DU Act, 1922.
Chaotic
Even if DU agrees to roll FYUP back, the new admission process is going to be chaotic, say DU teachers and principals.
"If admissions are under the three-year structure, then the BSc and BA Programmes will be back. But then the seats generated by scrapping those courses were distributed in other courses. How are we to redistribute the seats? Also, the admission forms student filled have no option for these courses, so on what basis will we grant admissions?" a principal of one of the colleges said.
Nandita Narain, president of the DU Teachers' Association and a staunch opponent of the FYUP, had a solution. She said that the university can conduct admissions as in 2012 when no application forms were required.
"There can be zero-application system as it took place in 2012 wherein colleges can come out with cut-offs based on previous lists. Those who have the required marks can take admission," Narain suggested.
Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), which had earlier decided to go ahead with admissions, later retracted and said that the college will not do so.
"We announced the cutoff also but then decided to not do admissions from tomorrow in view of the decision taken by the Principals' Association," said SRCC Principal P.C. Jain.
'This is an attack on DU's autonomy'
By Mail Today in New Delhi
Even as the voices against Delhi University's FYUP grew, a group of teachers came out in support of FYUP and said that the University Grants Commission's order to colleges not to proceed with admission under FYUP was an attack on DU's autonomy.
The group claimed that the UGC can only give recommendations to universities, and not diktats.
A member of DU's Executive Council, Aditya Narayan Mishra, alleged that UGC was overstepping its mandate and said its action will set a dangerous trend of impinging on the autonomy of Universities.
"UGC's diktat is not only violation of the long-standing autonomy of DU since its inception in the pre-independence days in 1922, but is also in contradiction to its own rules, regulations, and letters to DU where it clearly states the freedom regarding the duration of course with cap being only on the minimum number of necessary years for awarding a degree," Mishra, said.
Mishra said that contrary to UGC's claim all rules were followed during the introduction of FYUP.
"It was passed in the Academic Council and Executive Council. Then the ordinance was sent to the President, who is the Visitor of the University, and if no negative remark is received within a month, it is considered to be passed. And this is how FYUP was passed," he said.
He also alleged that the UGC was acting on behest of the HRD Ministry as there were many other Universities which are running 4-5 year courses.
"UGC has overstepped its own mandate, Acts and regulations in acting as a more than willing instrument of HRD Ministry. That is why UGC has conveniently turned a blind eye to several institutions which are running 4-5 year courses," he claimed.
DU's B.Tech students back FYUP
By Heena Kausar and Prerna Lidhoo in New Delhi
The fate of all the DU students who are part of the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme is hanging in midair. But those who have been pursuing B.Tech course have the most to lose.
A large number of these students chose Delhi University, leaving various engineering courses. They will be forced to complete a B. Sc degree, if the FYUP is rolled back.
A group of B.Tech students from various colleges held a protest, demanding that their future be secured.
The students said that they opted for DU over engineering college, but now they won't be getting an engineering degree.
"If I decide to do B.Tech now, I cannot do it as there will be a gap of two years now. The decision to take back FYUP is coming in July and I cannot apply anywhere now. The University as well as UGC, which did not say anything for one year, is at fault," Rohit, a B.Tech Computer Science student, said.
Last year, the applied science courses were re-designated as 'B.Tech' courses and students enrolled in large numbers expecting to get a degree awarded by engineering colleges.
"I was happy that I will study in Delhi University and get a B.Tech degree as well. It seemed like a wise decision I had made. Now everything has been muddled up. Let aside the B.Tech degree, we don't even know how the rest of the course will be carried out," Kaveri Sushil, a student of B.Tech (Food Technology), said.
Students said there are two major confusions among them. They said if FYUP is retained for this batch making them the only ones to have studied under FYUP, it might pose a disadvantage for them as experts have already raised questions about the degree's value outside DU.
And if, for instance, the programme is rolled back for B.Tech students as well, then it would be unfair to them as they were promised a different degree.
"I took admission in B.Tech, not BSc, and if the B.Tech course is rolled back, then it would not be the course I had sought for. Even after one year has been passed, it's too late to take admission to another college for a B.Tech degree now," Gauri Goel, a B.Tech (Computer Science) student, said.
HRD Ministry boost for UGC in DU tussle
By Shaswati Das in New Delhi
The ongoing UGC-Delhi University tussle over the revocation of Four Year Undergraduate Programme saw a fresh turn on Monday, with the Ministry of Human Resource Development stating that the varsity should comply by the Commission's orders.
Earlier in the day, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani met UGC chairman Ved Prakash amid uncertainty about the FYUP's future and the impending re-introduction of the three-year system On Friday, the University Grants Commission had asked the DU to scrap the four-year programme with immediate effect and admit students only under the three-year programme from the new academic session.
"Any deviation from this directive either by the University of Delhi or any of the colleges under it shall be deemed to be in contravention of the UGC Act, 1956 with its consequences," the UGC had said in a statement.
The directive is said to have the backing of Irani, who stated that "the UGC was the supreme body and the DU must comply with its orders."
At the same time, Irani stated that the ministry would not intervene in the matter.
Sources said the minister also expressed her displeasure at the delay in resolving the matter, as it comes at a time when several lakhs of students across the country are waiting to seek admission in the varsity.
While the UGC had asked the Delhi University to submit a compliance report on the matter, the report is still awaited.
With the future of more than 50,000 students hanging in the balance, sources stated that some preliminary suggestions had been made to ease the transition, if the FYUP is rolled back.
In the current FYUP system, students are made to study 11 foundation courses in the first year of study, with discipline courses being introduced in the second year.
Sources stated that suggestions had been made in the UGC's standing committee meeting to retain the B.Tech programme.