Delhi Government to audit 12 DU colleges

The government of Delhi has directed a special audit of 12 College of Delhi University (DU) , which are fully funded by the sates , the decision comes after there have been allegations of financial irregularities raised by Chief Minister Atishi. The purpose of the audit is to investigate these claims of misuse of public funds.

For the investigation, the directorate has appointed an eight-member team, it will be followed by a status report submitted by a high-level committee. The concerned department
on September 27,2024 asked the Directorate of Higher Education to make sure that all relevant records from the colleges are made accessible.

"I am directed to convey the approval of the Competent Authority for conducting a Special Audit on the examination of issues related to 12 colleges (fully funded by the Delhi Government) affiliated with the University of Delhi, as per the status report of the High-Level Committee," the order stated. It also instructed the colleges to provide logistical support to the audit team.

This decision is followed by previous month's joint meeting of DU's Academic Council (AC) and executive Council (EC), a 10-member committee 's has cleared colleges of any financial misconduct.
The University has since requested the state government to consider the committee's recommendations and requested Atishi to retract her letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Here she has proposed to de-affiliate the 12 colleges.

Last year, in December Atishi flagged potential financial irregularities involving hundreds of crores of rupees. She also suggested either merging the colleges with the Delhi government or transferring to centre and eventually ending the state funding.

The list of colleges include; Acharya Narendra Dev College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College, Bhaskaracharya College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maharshi Valmiki College, Shaheed Rajguru College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

The further decision on these colleges is yet to come.