Delhi University wants honours degree for 3-year course

It said it as sent a proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) where an honours will be given in three years and the last year will be kept for research.

"If the University Grants Commission agrees to this proposal, then we won't need a lot of time to implement it and begin admissions," DU PRO Malay Neerav told reporters.

"The UGC has been writing letters to us asking us to go back to the three-year course and now we have said that it will take a lot of time if these courses have to be converted to three years," he said.

The DU did not start its admission process for the third consecutive day on Thursday despite UGC directive. 

"The University Grants Commission had issued a fresh ultimatum asking DU to begin the admission process under the 3-year course from Thursday. But DU is silent so far," reported CNN-IBN.

The admission process was scheduled to start from June 24.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to give an urgent hearing to two cross petitions over the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) row.

A vacation bench of justices Pratibha Rani and V Kameswar Rao said, "The matter requires effective hearing which can't be done by a vacation bench. It will be heard by the roster bench in July."

"We understand the situation. The admissions will not be affected. There will only be a few days' delay," the bench said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene into the FYUP row and directed the Delhi High Court to take up the case.

Former DU Teachers Association president Aditya Narayan Mishra had approached the apex court against the UGC order on scrapping the FYUP.

The matter might be heard in the high court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, shortly after the SC order, DU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dinesh Singh resigned from his post over the issue.

DU teachers, favouring the FYUP, on Tuesday held a hunger strike as a mark of protest against the UGC and the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry over the issue.

"It is all a conspiracy. They want students to leave for private universities, 4500 teaching posts are still vacant, the hiring processes is still on. We are protesting against it," Mishra told CNN-IBN.

"The HRD and UGC are responsible for everything, who are they who want to run the university? The university does not run from political party offices. We are sitting on a hunger strike," he told the news channel.

The UGC on Sunday directed the Delhi University and all colleges under it to admit students only under the three-year programme and not under FYUP.

The UGC also warned the institutions of facing 'consequences' if its directions are not followed by them.

According to the reports, the DU has refused to scrap the programme.