Delhi University gets top legal billing

Increased student awareness has cost vice-chancellor Deepak Pental more than a crore so far

Deepak Pental has been laying down the law at Delhi University for the past four and a half years. It has cost him dear. More than a crore to be precise. Of course it doesn't come out of his own pocket.

An RTI reply says that from the academic year 2004-05 to 2008-09, the total legal expenses for the V-C have mounted to Rs 1,22,34,380. For the same duration (five years), during Pental's predecessor Dr Deepak Nayyar's tenure, the total legal expenses stood at only Rs 51,24,658u00a0-- almost half.

The RTI filed by Dr Harpal S Sangwan, who left his teaching profession and got into law studies at DU said, "If you analyse the report, it is noticeable that the expenses are rising year after year. This means that the unlawful acts inside the university are increasing every year and students have no option but to take legal recourse. The university must check on those dishonest acts and the money given to the lawyers could be better utilised."

Refuting all such allegations, DU's deputy registrar (legal), MA Sikander said, "It's common that legal expenses to grow every year. One of the basic reasons behind this is that students have become more aware about their rights. At any point of time where they feel that some injustice is being done to them, they approach the courts and we have to defend the case."

"Even in normal circumstances the numbers of cases in courts have increased manifold. So total expenses also tend to rise," he pointed out.
Sikander also cited the Right to Information Act as one of the reasons behind the increased activism among students.

"After the RTI Act has come into force, most of the students avail it and file cases against various departments. There are over 60 colleges in DU and the total annual budget allocated under the legal head is around 40 lakhs. Despite all this, if you compare the expenses to even a small corporate house, it's very little," Sikander added.

In one instance in 2007, Neera Dadhwal, a fifth semester student of LLB at Campus Law Centre, filed a case in Delhi High Court.

In her fourth semester, the petitioner was asked by the student's union to organise the annual festival on the campus. In the process, she missed three days of her classes. She ended up having 61 per cent attendance, which was not enough to sit in the exams.

But according to Ordinance VII, of the Statutes and Ordinances the dean/professor in charge is empowered to condone the attendance since she was working for the institution.
The petitioner submitted her form to appear in the fourth semester. However, she was denied permission. In the above circumstances, the court ruled that the petitioner should be admitted to the fifth semester.

The Other Side
It's common that legal expenses to grow every year. One of the basic reasons behind this is that students have become more aware about their rights.
Also after the RTI act has come into force, most of the students avail it and file cases against various departments.
--u00a0MA Sikander, DU's Deputy Registrar (Legal)

Distant Education
Last year, a group of students went to the court after School of Open Learning (SOL), Delhi University, were declared ineligible to sit for examinations conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). The SSC claimed that the institution was not recognised by the Distance Education Council and thus the fate of over 100 students who got selected for various posts through SSC hung in balance.

Legal Eagles
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