A group of former students of St Stephen's College on Tuesday alleged that the college has "deliberately" hired "undeserving" Christian teachers this month.

"Seven out of the eight teachers appointed during the month of March were Christians. The Stephanians are aghast with the way the principal has used the canard of minority rights and protection of interests of Christians by deliberately selecting undeserving teachers just because they belong to a certain minority community," the Old Stephanians association, which is not recognised by the college, said in a statement.

"Two appointments in English department, Physics (2), Chemistry (1), History (1), Economics (2) have been made during last few weeks. All except one in Economic department are Christians," said the statement which has also been marked to the Chairman of National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions; General Secretary, Synod, Church of North India and Secretary, Diocese of Delhi.

The association has also sought the intervention of reputed college alumni including former CEC S Y Quraishi, former Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manomohan Sarin and politicians Shashi Tharoor and Manishankar Aiyar.

"We demand that Supreme Council and Governing Body of the St Stephens College set up an independent inquiry . All decisions taken by (principal Valson) Thampu after he became Principal, be reviewed through an independent inquiry," it said. Thampu was not available for his comment on the issue.

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