Chandigarh, March 19
In a move which will endear it to a vast section of college students in Haryana, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government has decided to disaffiliate colleges from Ch. Devi Lal University at Sirsa.

Sources in the university said a proposal regarding the de-affiliation would be put up at a meeting of the Council of Ministers slated to be held here tomorrow. After the proposal is formally approved by the council, it will be presented in Bill form to the Assembly during its three-day session beginning on Monday.

The sources said the government had taken this decision in view of the absence of the necessary infrastructure at Devi Lal University for conducting examinations and carrying out the administrative work of the colleges of five Haryana districts which are affiliated to the university. Two senior members of the university administration had recommended to the government that the colleges must be disaffiliated from the university in the interest of the future of the students, the sources said.

Colleges of Bhiwani, Sirsa, Jind, Fatehabad and Hisar were affiliated to Devi Lal University much against the wishes of students of these institutions. While the colleges of Bhiwani were earlier affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) of Rohtak, the colleges of the four remaining districts were affiliated to Kurukshetra University (KU). Both MDU and KU are old universities and over the years have earned some reputation as seats of learning. Affiliating the colleges to the new university, set up by the Om Prakash Chautala-led government as part of the overdrive launched by it to deify the late Devi Lal, did not go down well with the students.

Bhiwani in Jind in particular had witnessed a massive protest by students against the affiliation of their colleges to a university located at a place which was far from where they were studying. Even in Sirsa, there was a protest by students who wanted that their colleges should remain affiliated to the university at Kurukshetra.

Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the Leader of the Opposition when the agitation by students had rocked Haryana and he fully supported the demand of the students.