The Delhi High Court on Friday turned down Delhi University’s plea to reconstitute a five-member Grievance Redressal Committee for students that was ordered by a single-judge Bench last week.
A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, however, decided to add another member to the committee and make it a six-member body with the rider that in the event of any cleavage in opinion, the casting vote will be exercised by the chairperson.
DU gave the name of Professor S.C. Rai to be added as a member of the Committee.
The High Court’s decision came on DU’s appeal against August 7 order of the single-judge Bench in which a four-member Grievance Redressal Committee, initially constituted by the university, was reconstituted.
DU’s counsel submitted that the varsity created a two-tier system to deal with the grievances received from final-year students who took the OBE examinations conducted online that commenced on August 10.
The first tier comprises the Grievance Officers headed by Ajay Arora and the second tier has a Grievances Redressal Committee, whose members are senior-rank academicians.
The university contended that the single-judge Bench, in its order, dropped two members and three were names added, out of whom one is a retired judge of the Delhi High Court, appointed as the chairperson, the other two members are a senior advocate and a practicing advocate of the High Court.
DU said the reconstitution of the Grievances Redressal Committee was “most unwarranted and reflects poorly on DU and its integrity”. Responding to it, the High Court said that reconstitution of the committee neither impinges on the integrity of the university nor does it intrude on its authority. “In fact, selecting members of the committee who are not a part of the university, but have sufficient experience at hand, would only add to its stature and endorse the impartiality of the process more so when it is headed by a retired judge of the High Court,” the court said.
The High Court highlighted that the other two members of the committee nominated by the single-judge Bench have volunteered to act pro bono (free of charge) and that there is no financial burden cast on the university.