New Delhi: Hindu College Staff Association has passed a “no-confidence motion” against principal Anju Srivastava over alleged irregularities in admissions under the sports and ECA quotas, alleging that extra admissions were made in some programmes despite the issue having been flagged by the college.Under Delhi University rules, sports and ECA admissions can together account for up to 5% of a college’s total strength. In Hindu College’s case, this worked out to 48 seats — 33 under sports and 15 under ECA. The rules further provide that a programme can get a maximum of 20% of the seats under the quota. This meant a programme could get up to seven sports and three ECA seats. However, commerce received 11 sports and six ECA seats, taking its total to 17 — seven more than the prescribed limit. Political science received nine sports and six ECA seats, taking its total to 15 — five more than the limit.The issue was flagged by the college’s ECA and sports committees in the staff council, following which the principal wrote to DU’s dean of admissions on Aug 11 seeking clarification on the allocations made through the university’s centralised admission system. She asked DU to “verify the allocation and get the same rectified at the earliest”.In its Aug 14 response, DU’s dean of admissions acknowledged that there had been an error in the allocation. It said the 20% cap was “inadvertently applied at the programme level rather than separately to the sports/ECA quota”, which led to some programmes getting more seats than the prescribed limit.DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said the issue was not limited to Hindu College and had occurred in several other colleges as well. “While allocating seats, we apply several formulas. In the ECA and sports allocation, a third formula was missed. But even after that, the overall 5% rule has not been violated and the merit has not been compromised. We could not cancel the extra allocations because the first round had already concluded. The necessary corrections will therefore be made in the subsequent rounds. ,” he said.Responding to TOI, principal Srivastava said, “The merit has not been falsified. The allocation is done by the university and the college has no role in it. The university has clearly communicated that there was an inadvertent error in the allocation in this round, and they will ensure there are no such errors in the subsequent rounds.”Staff council secretary Chandrachur Singh, however, alleged that the issue was not an isolated incident. “There have been various incidents in the past where the principal has turned administration into an autocratic working,” .The association, on Aug 18, passed a resolution expressing “dismay at the role of the principal”. It has sought an impartial inquiry into the alleged rule violations and possible corrupt practices.AISA, NSUI, KYS and other students also protested on campus against the administration Thursday.
