DU requests professor to provide text of proposed lecture at US university for leave sanction

DU had told Professor Apoorvanand Jha that his application for leave cannot be sanctioned unless the Union Ministry of Education was consulted, he said.

Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha claimed that the university administration requested him to produce the text of his planned lecture in an academic gathering in the US for clearance of travel. 

No reaction was available from the DU administration.

Jha termed the step "unprecedented", alleging it assaults the university's autonomy and academic freedom.

Hindi department faculty Jha has also been invited to lecture at a seminar, "The University Under a Global Authoritarian Turn", which is a part of the 20th anniversary of the India China Institute at The New School, New York, to be held from April 23 to May 1.

Speaking to PTI, Jha stated, "I got an email from the registrar's office requesting me to send in text of my speech for clearance. In my opinion, this is extremely alarming. We are blithely relinquishing the autonomy of the DU. This has never happened ever before."

He stated that he had applied for leave more than 35 days in advance using the university's online Samarth portal but had received a letter from the DU on April 2, saying the university was "unable to grant permission" and needed to consult with the Union Ministry of Education.

In a letter dated April 15 to DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, Jha explained, "I fail to understand what led the university to dispense with the principle of institutional autonomy and ask for intervention by an outside agency, in this instance the Union government, into a question of granting leave."

In a letter reply to the registrar's office, the professor wrote that there is no regulation that mandates a government clearance for leave or travel of faculty members.

"You stated that you did not know any particular rule where the ministry's permission is needed. Based on our conversation, I inferred that the university is voluntarily, without any mandatory law, rule or regulation, forwarding my leave application to the ministry," Jha wrote in his reply.

"You graciously offered that I could share my speech to be delivered at the India China Institute of the New School, and it could be appended with the file so it would be easy for the ministry to make a decision. Would this imply that the subject of my speech would now be censored before granting permission to attend an academic forum?" he queried.\

The Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF), in a letter, denounced the university's move as "arbitrary" and "an attack on academic freedom."

The teachers' organization called the call for speech vetting "an act of censorship" and charged the administration with undermining the institution's autonomy.

It added that withholding permission for such academic interactions harms the university's international reputation and evidences a greater erosion of institutional integrity.

Jha also went to social media to voice his concern, tweeting on X: "Delhi Univ adm wants to screen and clear the text of my talk for the India China Institute, New School (New York) event and take the government's advice to decide whether to grant me leave.".