Silent Crisis in DU Hiring: Unofficial Costs and Quiet Fears

Across Delhi University’s staff rooms, a quiet but persistent anxiety shadows the hiring process. Teachers who were unable to secure positions during recent recruitment cycles describe being nudged—never openly, never in writing—toward “informal payments” ranging from a few lakh to staggering sums. These allegations sit in a grey zone: widely whispered, rarely documented, and almost never formally reported.

One 50-year-old government college teacher recounted being asked for an “unofficial payment” of ₹50 lakh while seeking a senior lecturer post—an allegation she refuses to file because she fears retaliation and hopes to remain in the academic system.

A DU teacher-activist says such concerns surface constantly in private conversations, WhatsApp groups and exam prep circles. But without proof or documentation, these rumours remain a shadow narrative—dangerous because they exist only in silence.

A Topic People Speak About Only Behind Closed Doors

Faculty members express pride in DU’s academic legacy, yet flinch when the subject turns to recruitment. Many say interviews feel unpredictable, opaque and increasingly shaped by factors beyond merit. Former applicant Meenakshi Atwal says candidates now enter and exit interviews unsure of the criteria that decide their fate.

The concern is not just alleged corruption—it is the growing inability to speak about it.

From Old Worries of “Inbreeding” to New Anxieties

DU Teachers’ Association member and activist Abha Dev explains how earlier debates centred around “inbreeding,” where departments hired their own former students. Even then, she says, academic quality was assured because DU, JNU and Allahabad University produced strong scholars.

Today, whispers point in another direction—allegations of money being sought for appointments. None of it can be proven; none of it is officially recorded. But the fact that such murmurs exist at all, she says, signals a shift in the academic climate.

Selection Committees: Designed to Ensure Fairness, Now Fueling Uncertainty

UGC rules require DU selection panels to include the principal, HoD, VC nominee, governing body representative and at least one external expert. These reforms were meant to reduce bias.

However, teachers say fixed, repetitive panels have formed new concentrations of power.
“If the same people will decide your future promotions, who will risk speaking up?” asks Miranda House lecturer Manasi Mishra.

Protests Without Complaints: A Telling Contradiction

This year saw numerous protests over delayed permanent appointments, concerns about sidelining ad-hoc staff, and doubts about panel composition. Yet formal complaints are almost nonexistent.

Assistant professor Rohit Singh says why:
“Filing a complaint means naming people, giving evidence and potentially jeopardising your career. Most candidates won’t take that risk.”

So protests become expressions of fear, not legal challenges.

Slow Drift in Academic Culture

Faculty members say private universities once sought DU-trained scholars due to their strong academic grounding. But some private institutions, off the record, now prefer faculty with foreign degrees—not because DU talent lacks quality, they say, but because DU’s hiring environment appears unpredictable.

Students too feel the consequences: fewer electives, delayed evaluations, reduced mentoring hours.

Delhi University remains an exceptional academic institution, with unmatched intellectual depth and alumni strength. But teachers fear that uncertainty—not misconduct itself—poses the bigger threat. Academic ecosystems thrive on stability, and it is that stability they say is weakening.

Every teacher interviewed expressed the same hope: they want DU to remain strong.

The crisis, then, is not in paperwork—it is in whispers. Not in evidence—but in unease.