St Stephen’s College has removed two assistant professors from the Chemistry and Hindi departments, appointed during former principal John Varghese’s tenure, following an inquiry into irregularities in faculty shortlisting norms.
On 9 May 2026, 25 assistant professors were recruited just weeks before the tenure of former principal John Varghese ended. By 13 May 2026, however, the ad hoc faculty had moved the Delhi High Court over the faculty appointments made to various departments. The court stayed the recruitment process, observing that it raises important questions requiring consideration. Delhi University had earlier constituted a committee, which found that the college had violated the shortlisting criteria approved by the statutory body.
Susan Elias took over as the new principal on 1 June 2026 and constituted a committee to look into all 25 faculty appointments. On its recommendation, action was initiated against two appointees who had been selected against an Unreserved (UR) vacancy and were Christian candidates.
The Hindi appointee was issued a show-cause notice on 15 September 2026, followed by a personal hearing on 29 September 2026. The college reviewed his documents and concluded that he did not fulfil the screening criteria, citing the requirement that candidates should draw salary under the Seventh Central Pay Commission structure.
It was also revealed that the candidate scored 76.67 out of 100, against the 78-mark cutoff required for calling candidates to interview for the post of assistant professor in the Hindi department.
The committee constituted by the new principal, Susan Elias, and the governing body met on 29 September 2026, where the two faculty members were asked to resign.
The assistant professor from the Chemistry department complied, but the Hindi assistant professor refused, following which he was issued a termination letter on 7 October 2026.
Image Credits: St Stephen’s, University of Delhi
Tiya Mittal
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