The government of Delhi has ordered a special audit of 12 colleges which are affiliated with Delhi University and are fully subsidized by the states. The audit get under way as a result of Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi’s claim that these 12 colleges may have put the wrong use of the public funds.
The Directorate of Audit on September 27, 2024, has appointed the team of eight members to perform the audit, following a report from a high-level committee which recommended a closer look into the finances of these colleges. The audio department directed the Directorate of Higher Education to make sure that all the necessary are records are available to the auditors.
There was a joint meeting held last month by both Delhi University’s Academic Council and Executive in which they have clarified the Delhi University that their investigation by a 10 member committee couldn’t find any financial misconduct in these colleges. Hence, the University of Delhi had requested the state government to consider their committee’s recommendation and called on Atishi to take back her letter to Union Minister of Education in which she had proposed the de-affiliation of colleges. She proposed the two options, one is to merge the 12 colleges with the government of Delhi and second option is to transfer those 12 colleges to the central government.
Despite this conclusion, Atishi was still not convinced with Delhi University’s own conducted audit of 10 members and suggested the Directorate of Audit to look into this matter. Hence, the recent audit is seen as a step towards transparency related to the financial matters of these colleges and also the newly made audit will response to the state government’s concerns about fund management.
The 12 colleges with University of Delhi is asked to cooperate with the audit team and also instructed them to provide seating arrangements and administrative support so that the could have all the required resources for their investigation process.
This instance have raised the tension between University of Delhi and Delhi’s government over the financial issues and mistrust created. As the trust between them should be maintained to run the academic community smoothly, it is crucial to get the proper outcome of the issue with full accountability and authenticity. The decision of this issue will probably depend on the outcome of the ongoing audit. The final report of audit may take few weeks or months to get released depending on the difficulties of the financial records.
