DU to roll out uniform seniority policy for teachers to streamline promotions, appointments

NEW DELHI: Delhi University is set to implement a uniform policy to determine the seniority of college teachers, aiming to eliminate ambiguity and streamline faculty appointments and internal governance. The proposal will be placed for final approval at the upcoming Executive Council (EC) meeting scheduled for May 23. The EC, chaired by Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, is the university's highest statutory body.

The lack of a standardised framework for determining seniority, particularly among Assistant Professors (Level 10), has led to widespread confusion in colleges, especially in promotions, when nominating senior-most faculty members for academic committees and statutory bodies. Recognising the pressing need for reform, the university constituted a high-level committee in July 2024 to examine the issue and recommend a consistent policy.

Chaired by the Dean of Colleges, the committee included principals of major DU colleges, members of the Executive and Academic Councils, and category-wise representatives from SC, ST, and OBC communities. After holding five meetings between July 2024 and April 2025 and examining provisions under Ordinance XI, the committee submitted a detailed set of recommendations.

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Age-based order within departments

The proposed policy states that the departments whose appointments happened first will be treated senior to the other departments. Within a department, if a common seniority list is not prepared by the selection committee, then seniority will be determined based on the age of the faculty member by keeping all first-ranked faculty members from all categories on equal footing.

This process to continue till all ranks are exhausted. These parallel lists will serve to clarify seniority within each category without altering the general order, thereby promoting transparency and fairness in nominations and appointments. This step is aimed at ensuring equitable representation from reserved categories in statutory and academic bodies, while also complying with constitutional provisions related to reservation.

If approved by the Executive Council on May 23, the new policy is expected to resolve long-standing ambiguities and institutional disputes regarding faculty seniority. It will also support DU's broader goals of fostering equity, efficiency, and good governance across its constituent colleges.