Haridwar: Chinmaya Degree College has declared its 2025-26 academic session a ‘zero session‘, meaning there will be no admissions or classes for the year. The decision has been attributed to a long-running tussle between management and staff, poor enrolment, and an unresolved land lease dispute with BHEL.

The college, established in 1989 on Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) land under a 12-year (5+5+2) agreement, has been operating without a renewed lease since 2001. BHEL is now reportedly seeking the land back. Teachers warned that if the institution shuts down, the careers of hundreds of students would be at risk.

A faculty member said, “If the college, the only one in Haridwar and its vicinity offering postgraduate science courses, is closed, students will have no alternative. SMJN College, the city’s oldest, offers only a few undergraduate science subjects. Chinmaya provides four science combinations at the graduate level and six at the postgraduate level.”

College managing committee secretary Alok Shukla told TOI, “Without a long-term lease, the college may not survive. The state government must intervene and resolve the issue with BHEL and the Union heavy industries ministry.” He added that the institution had been running an annual loss of Rs 50 lakh for the past two years. Student strength has dropped to 532 in 2024-25 from over 1,000 earlier, against a capacity of 1,200.

Shukla said that under the new education policy, the single-faculty college would have to become multidisciplinary, requiring new courses and further increasing financial strain.

The managing committee recently replaced chairman Col (retd) Rakesh Sachdev with Kshama V Kaushik, and secretary Indu Malhotra with Shukla. Two BHEL representatives were also added, and efforts are on to appoint a regular principal. Kaushik, a trustee of Delhi Chinmaya Seva Trust (DCST), which runs the college, has assured that DCST would provide extra funds.

Physics professor P K Sharma blamed the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), delay in results and late opening of the SAMARTH admission portal for the poor registration this year. He added that staff strength had reduced by more than half due to government policies. “Most classes are under the self-finance scheme, and fees collected are insufficient to pay tutors’ salaries. This leads to financial losses,” Sharma said.

According to Shukla, a meeting of the state higher education secretary with BHEL officials and Haridwar DM, earlier scheduled for September 25 to discuss the land issue, has been postponed to October 30. “If the land issue is resolved, we may overcome other difficulties. If not, the college may cease to exist,” he warned.