AADTA-led teachers protested at Delhi University against delays in regularisation and promotions of ad hoc faculty in 12 colleges, demanding recruitment approvals and implementation of the High Court’s 2025 judgement.

On Friday May 15, members associated with the Academic for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA) staged a protest calling out the lack of regularisation and promotion to permanent positions of the ad hoc teachers working in 12 colleges across Delhi University. The association called for immediate action and for the immediate approval of ex post facto sanctions for posts, enabling colleges to commence recruitment processes without delay.

The protest saw wide support from the teaching staff across the university. Academic Council members, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) executive members and office-bearers of several college staff associations participated in the protest, the organisation shared in a statement. Additionally, presidents of staff associations from Bhagini Nivedita College, College of Vocational Studies, and Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College also expressed solidarity with the demands during the protest.

Former Executive Council member and AADTA member Rajesh Jha said,

 “DU has done away with the ad hoc system in other colleges, which naturally leads to a feeling of insecurity among these teachers as they have no idea where they stand.” Mr Jha said the issue emerged due to the limited number of sanctioned posts created in 2010-2011.

 “A total of 301 posts were sanctioned in these 12 colleges, but those were not enough. Currently, there are around 1,000 teachers, including permanent and ad hoc faculty, working in these colleges,” he said.

The association’s demand is with relation to the Delhi High Court’s judgement of the Namita Khare case in which a teacher from the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies demanded regularisation after her prolonged ad hoc status. She had been an ad hoc teacher for 8 years, yet her pay grade and teaching position remained unchanged. The court ruled that long-serving ad-hoc teachers should be made permanent and regularised, underlining that the ruling should be enforced “in letter and spirit”.

In conversation with DU Beat, Bimlendu Tirthunker, the secretary of DUTA and a member of AADTA, said,

 “The teachers that we are raising this issue for have been teaching for more than 18-20 years; the lack of regularisation really affects their lives in terms of low pay scale and other benefits. They are not in a position to switch jobs. It is a duty on a human level to give them a permanent position.”

He further added,

‘The DUTA delegation had previously met Rekha Gupta with this grievance, and she gave us reassurance, but it still isn’t getting implemented.’ Our simple demand is for the administration to follow directions given by the Delhi High Court in the Namita Khare case with immediate effect.’

Read Also: The Age of Automated Academia
Image Credits-Facebook Page of AADTA

Divyanshi Dusad
[email protected]