I and my fellow students from the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) have been protesting since March 4 against its conversion into Delhi Technological University (DTU). We demand that if DCE could not be brought under the control of Delhi University it should be converted into a National Institute of Technology or an IIT retaining its central character.

Our teachers filed several RTIs last year and through them we got to know the different aspects of the DTU Bill (passed by the Delhi assembly , and now an Act). It mentions many reasons for the conversion of DCE into DTU.

One of them is that the recruitment of faculty through UPSC takes much longer time resulting into acute faculty shortage. But according to the the information we got through RTI, the existing faculty was sufficient to meet the immediate requirement.

There are many stakeholders of DCE who are affected by the bill. We initiated a signature campaign in which the students eagerly wished to express their views. When the vice chancellor of DTU came to know of this he threatened us with consequences and pulled down the campaign.

The directorate of higher education was asked if there was an official visit of officers of this directorate to DCE before moving the proposal to convert it into DTU. Through an RTI reply we got to know that there was no such visit and the proposal was moved on the basis of feedback received from DCE. But actually no meeting was held and the view of the faculty of DCE was never heard. This belief is further confirmed by the fact the faculty and staff of DCE went for a protest at Metcalfe House on July 9, 2009 and also at the DCE gate on July 14, 2009.

The bill was passed in a hurried manner during the vacations when there were hardly students present in the college and there were a lot of constitutional flaws in the conversion of DCE into DTU. There has been a substantial increase in the number of seats in DCE (300+) without taking into account the infrastructure facilities available in the campus. Currently, the classes of these new intakes are being held in the college auditorium!

We were not allowed to exercise our right to vote in DUSU elections even though electronic voting machines were sent to DCE. Even after this conversion, the existing students are a part of Delhi University and have full rights to exercise their right to vote. The election of the college president (SA) was delayed and finally a president (SA) was appointed by the college authorities and not elected by the students.

The man behind this move is Prof PB Sharma who has been granted an extension on his retirement. Also no search committee was set for appointing him as the vice chancellor of DTU. Prof Sharma, director, DCE, in his official capacity has commented on the functioning of UPSC, a constitutional body, and thereby put the reputation of UPSC at stake in the eyes of general public. Being a government employee, Prof Sharma has no right to comment on UPSC before the media. However, no action has been taken against him as can be seen from the RTI replies.

In view of the above mentioned details, we believe that the real motive for this conversion was an individual’s self-interest and not the upgradation of DCE. We think an actual upgradation would be to convert DCE into IIT/NIT or to give its control completely (academically as well as administratively) to the University of Delhi. For example FMS (Faculty of Management Studies), as opposed to the earlier control of the college, (is now) academically under DU and administratively under the state government.

We have lost faith in our college’s vice chancellor Prof Sharma and completely distrust his moves and motives.