DUSU Polls: DU to appeal to court to exempt varsity from paying Rs 1 crore to MCD

NEW DELHI: Delhi University will appeal to the High Court to exempt Rs 1 crore compensation imposed upon them to pay to the MCD for cleaning the defacement of public property across the national capital during their Students Union elections, a varsity official said on Monday.

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to several candidates who contested the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections held in September and summoned them to appear before it in the next hearing, slated for October 28.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi submitted before the court that it incurred an expense of Rs 1 crore for cleaning the defacement during the elections across its 12 zones. The court had earlier asked DU to compensate for the cost incurred by civic agencies including MCD and DMRC for undertaking the cleaning.

It also said that DU may recover this amount from the contesting candidates if it wants. Asked about the MCD's demand, DU VC Yogesh Singh said the varsity will appeal to exempt the compensation amount. "It is a significant amount, and we do not have the funds to pay it. We cannot expect the students to cover this fine either. Although we asked the candidates to abide by the rules, they continued to violate them, which has put us in a difficult situation. We will appeal to the court to seek exemption from this amount," VC Singh told PTI.

While the DUSU polling took place on September 27, the vote counting -- scheduled for September 28 -- has been halted by the High Court till all the defacement material, including posters, hoardings and graffiti is removed and public property is restored. The court on Monday reiterated its warning observing that the defacement has not been removed and declined to lift the stay on vote counting.

It has also asked for a fresh status report on the cleaning of defacement from Delhi Police and the MCD by the next hearing. Reacting to the development, the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said, "We will wait for the final verdict of the court on this matter and then will decide the legal remedies available with us. We want to urge the High Court to lift the stay on counting of votes in the larger interest of students," Ashutosh Singh, national media convener of ABVP said.

Congress' student wing NSUI said, "We express concern over the excessive amount submitted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for cleaning services at Delhi University. We appeal to both Delhi University and the MCD to resolve this issue swiftly and equitably. Additionally, we urge the authorities to announce the DUSU election results without further delay."