Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday stopped funds to 28 colleges affiliated to the Delhi University for not forming governing bodies in the last 10 months. Twelve of these 28 colleges are fully funded by the Delhi government, while the remaining 16 are partially funded.

The Delhi University had not appointed governing bodies to these colleges since October 2016, when their term had ended. In June, the Aam Aadmi Party government had asked the colleges not to appoint any faculty member until the governing bodies were in place.

“I cannot allow unchecked corruption and irregularities to be sustained on Delhi government funds in the name of education,” Sisodia tweeted.

The Delhi University said that they had informed the government that a list of approved members for the governing bodies will be sent in a week. “They had selected about 10 members for each of the 28 colleges but we had to go through the profiles to ensure that all groups – lawyers, doctor, academics – were properly represented in each governing body,” Dean of Colleges Devesh Sinha told Scroll.in. “We needed balance, and for that the list sent by the government needed some modification. This was discussed even in the last meeting of the executive council in July.”

Some colleges that are entirely depended on government funding will face problems with the Delhi government’s order. “Everything from payment of salaries to teaching and non-teaching staff to payment of electricity bill is done through Delhi government’s funds,” Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College Principal SK Garg told the Hindustan Times. “If we don’t get the funds the college will have to stop.”

However, Garg clarified that the funds were usually allotted to them in four installments – July, November, January and March. “We have already received the first installment, so there won’t be any immediate impact and the matter will hopefully be resolved in a few weeks,” he added.