After Manusmriti row, DU clears other amendments to Law Faculty syllabus
Delhi University’s (DU) Academic Council on Friday passed several amendments to the syllabus of two papers taught at the Faculty of Law despite dissent from nine teachers, who said “irrelevant” concepts like ‘Dharma’ and ‘Purushartha’ have replaced important legal works by Amartya Sen and John Locke.
The move came a day after ViceChancellor Yogesh Singh had, following criticism, announced that two readings on the Manusmriti — Manusmriti With The Manubhasya of Medhatithi by G.N. Jha and Commentary of Manu Smriti - Smritichandrika by T. Kristnasawmi Iyer — would not be taught in the papers Jurisprudence I and II.
The dissenting teachers, however, said the issue extends far beyond the two readings as “Manuism in spirit pervades and is embodied in different sections of the amended syllabi”.
The additions to the syllabus, which includes Kautilya’s Arthashastra as well as several concepts relating to the ancient Indian legal system, are “irrelevant” and will lead to “unfortunate gaps in a student’s understanding of the subject”, they said in a statement.
“I had suggested we study both the ancient and modern Indian legal systems, since one cannot use concepts like ‘Dharma’ and ‘Purushartha’ to argue in a court of law. We could also study Indian legal history separately, but studying it under a paper on jurisprudence is incoherent since jurisprudence means the study of law in abstract,” said Megh Raj, one of the dissenters and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law.
‘Key teachings dropped’
The statement said that key legal teachings have been dropped from the syllabus to make way for the new additions.
For instance, Unit 4 of Jurisprudence I, titled ‘Concept of Natural Law’, has been heavily truncated, with the works of an important philosopher like John Locke missing from syllabus. However, concepts like ‘Ritam’ and ‘Dharma’ have now been added, it said.
Several other sections have also been expunged from the paper, including the unit ‘Hans Kelsen: Pure Theory of Law’. From Unit 7, ‘Jurisprudence in Bharatiya Scriptures’, important notions such as the Buddhist notion of Dhamma are missing, the teachers added.
With regard to Unit 1 of Jurisprudence II, which is on legal concepts, additions about ‘Purushartha’ have been inserted. “But important supporting readings by Allen Buchanan and Amartya Sen are now missing from the paper,” the statement said.
One cannot use concepts like ‘Dharma’ and ‘Purushartha’ to argue in a court of law MEGH RAJ
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law
‘Exclusionary syllabus’
Monami Sinha, a member of the Academic Council, added that Jurisprudence I, a paper on the philosophy of law, makes no mention of Dalit, Gandhian, feminist or Marxist philosophies.
“The committee which drafted the amendments comprised mostly uppercaste professors. None of the other professors were consulted,” said another professor.
A statement by the administration said the university will consider establishing a Dr. B.R. Ambedkar chair.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday that the ViceChancellor of Delhi University (DU) had rejected the proposal to include ancient Sanskrit text Manusmriti in its undergraduate law course.
Mr. Pradhan said the Education Ministry was committed to the Constitution and to a “futuristic approach”.
“There is no question of including any controversial portion of any script...,” he said.
On Thursday, after it came to the notice of the Ministry that Manusmriti had been proposed to be a part of the law course at the university, Mr. Pradhan said he enquired about this and spoke to the ViceChancellor. “He [ViceChancellor] assured me that some law faculty member had proposed changes in the jurisprudence chapter and that such a proposal had been received by the DU administration. However in the Academic Council meeting there was no endorsement of any such proposal. The VC has rejected that proposal. The government is committed to upholding the true spirit and letter of the Constitution,” Mr. Pradhan said.
The DU Academic Council for Academic Matters convened on Friday, and readings on Manusmriti were proposed to be included in the course material as part of efforts to introduce Indian perspectives in line with the National Education Policy, 2020.