Court reserves order against DU teachers

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on
charges by the Delhi University (DU) that teachers of Dyal Singh
College had flouted court orders by protesting against the
implementation of the semester system.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv
Khanna said, "The court will pronounce its final verdict on whether
the teachers can be hauled up for the contempt of court or not next
week."

The counsel for DU moved an application alleging that the teachers of
Dyal Singh College should be punished for contempt of court because
they tried to stall the implementation of the semester system.

The college was supposed to send the eligibility criteria and
additional information regarding the curriculum being fixed by the
university, but they refused to reply, stating that the matter is
pending before the high court," the counsel said.

According to the DU counsel, since the court had not stayed the
implementation of the semester system and has asked the teachers to
cooperate with them in the interest of students, the teachers' denial
amounted to the contempt of court.

On behalf of the teachers, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan submitted
that the teachers are protesting only because they are concerned about
the students.

The bench also spoke to teachers of different DU colleges present in the court.

An English teacher from Kamala Nehru College said, "We won't teach if
the semester system is implemented."

Meanwhile, on the issue of validating the varsity's move to implement
semester system in all its courses from the current academic year, the
court said that it will hear the matter at length and pass its verdict
in July.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court sought the response of the Delhi
University and its vice-chancellor on a fresh plea challenging the
implementation of the semester system.

The same bench has also issued notice to the varsity, its vice
chancellor and the University Grants Commission (UGC) on a plea by a
group of teachers seeking quashing of the April 19 notification to
introduce the semester system for undergraduate courses in the arts
stream from this year.

As of now, there are 13 courses, including physics, chemistry, botany
and zoology, which follow the semester system in the university.

A petition by the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA)
challenging the implementation of semester system for undergraduate
students has been pending before the court since last year.