DU Dyal Singh evening college renaming row: staff meets GB chief, protests continue

New Delhi: In a fresh attempt to prevent the renaming of Delhi University's (DU) Dyal Singh Evening College to Banda Singh Bahadur, the college staff association met the Governing Body (GB) chairman on Friday. This comes after multiple protests staged by the staff association, urging that the move be revoked. In December 2025, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh announced that the evening college would be renamed after Sikh warrior Banda Singh Bahadur. It is currently named after Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a 19th-century philanthropist, educationist and social reformer.

"The GB is set to hold its meeting on Saturday, where the minutes of the meeting held on December 5, 2025, are to be approved and released. In the December meeting, the GB passed the proposal for the name change and sent it to the university, said Mithilesh Kumar Singh, president of the staff association.

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Singh said, "We have also requested that the principal call a proper meeting of the staff council to discuss the matter." In April, following a protest by the staff council, the principal wrote to the university vice-chancellor seeking directions to convene a staff council meeting. "The staff council is a statutory body of the college, and there is no requirement to write to the VC seeking directions. The matter has already been delayed, and we want it to be discussed properly," he said.