Classes at all central universities in Delhi were suspended on 22 January 2004 after the teachers struck work in protest against the anomalies in the University Grants Commission-proposed Model Act for universities. The bandh called  by the Federation of Central Universities Teachers` Association (FEDUCTA) was supported by the teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Delhi University.

According to the striking teachers, the Model Act will encourage blatant commercialisation of higher education.  The Act`s main objective is to withdraw state funding of universities and force them to become self-sufficient. The teachers view the Act as a pretext for the UGC to implement the recommendations of Ambani-Birla report which wants higher education as a commercial industry activity. "Our  main demand is that university funding should be from the State," says Kamal Mitra Chenoy, member of the national executive of  FEDUCTA and also its  former president. "UGC is interfering in the autonomy of universities by including in their curricula teaching of vedas and upanishads," he adds.

In June 2003, the UGC appointed an expert committee to review the governance, organisation and management of universities in the country. In order to prepare the Indian university system for the future, the committee was to recommend a Model Act for universities in the 21st century. The committee consisted of Professor B S Sonde, former vice-chancellor of Goa University as convenor, along with Prof. Ram Takwale (former IGNOU vice-chancellor), Prof. A Gnanam (former Pondicherry University vice-chancellor) and Prof. G D Sharma (senior fellow, NIEPA) as members and Dr Pankaj Mittal (joint secretary, UGC) as secretary.

According to UGC, the fears of the teachers against the Model Act are "unfounded." As far the UGC is concerned, the Act in its current form is only a concept paper towards the formulation of a Model Act. The first part gives a concept paper and the second part is a questionnaire to elicit response from various universities.  UGC considers the accusation of the teachers` associations that the Act will be finalised in an undemocratic and secretive manner as "baseless". According to UGC, the Act will be finalised only in December 2004 after a proper dialogue with the teachers’ associations.

Teachers` associations have their own apprehension towards the questionnaire mainly because (a) all decisions regarding the Model Act was imposed by notifications and circulars; (b) there was no debate on the Act and (c) teachers were not called for any discussion on the issue  by the Human Resource Development ministry.

The one-day bandh by the teachers crippled work in 200 colleges.  Though the strike was called  by FEDUCTA, other teachers` unions like AIFACTU extended their moral support. Teachers`s unions  will now meet to decide their next course of action.