The Delhi Police detained around 50 members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) along with president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) from Delhi secretariat after they jointly held a protest against the Delhi government for authorising 12 colleges of DU to use Students Society Fund (SSF) for payment of outstanding salary to their staff.

The detainees were taken to IP state police station and Rajendra Nagar police station, where they were released after a few hours on Tuesday.

The DUSU and ABVP carried out a march on Tuesday from the ITO Metro Station to the Delhi Secretariat, demanding the revocation of the order by the Delhi government’s Directorate of Higher Education to use the SSF for the payment of teaching and non-teaching staff of 12 colleges.

DUSU president Akshit Dahiya stated that they would continue with their agitation till the state government revokes its order. The student organisation has already decided to file a petition in the court alleging the order as a misappropriation of funds.

Delhi government’s Directorate of Higher Education had released an order on Saturday commanding the 12 colleges to draw on the Students Society Fund (SSF) for payment of outstanding salary to the teaching and non-teaching staff. The staff of these 12 colleges has not been paid up to six months.

The order had cited ongoing special audit and non-release of grant-in-aid as the reasons for the pending salaries of staff. It also cited a similar basis to utilise SSF for the release of salaries.

Dahiya stated that the DUSU would not let the state government touch even a single penny from the SSF. “Students undoubtedly get affected when the teachers remain uncompensated. However, nothing can warrant the misuse by the Delhi government of the funds that rightfully belong to the students of the varsity. In the face of continuing government indifference, we will approach the Delhi High Court seeking immediate nullification of this anti-student directive. We will not allow even a single paisa from the SSF to be appropriated towards discharging existing liabilities,” he said.

Meanwhile, ABVP accused the Kejriwal government of being incompetent and demanded to hand over these 12 colleges to the Centre.

“The Delhi government is using the pandemic as a convenient excuse to camouflage its incompetence and justify the misappropriation of the SSF corpus towards functions unconnected to student welfare. It’s high time that the management and control of these 12 colleges wherein everyone ranging from the teaching as well as non-teaching staff to the students is suffering due to the apathy and ineptitude of the Delhi government, is entrusted to the Union government,” said Sidharth Yadav, secretary, ABVP-Delhi.