Zakir Hussain changes name

Zakir Hussain College of Delhi University has got a new name. The college, located on Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, will be known as Zakir Hussain Delhi College from now on.

Zakir Hussain College of Delhi University has got a new name.

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The college, located on Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, will be known as Zakir Hussain Delhi College from now on.

The decision to restore the word ‘Delhi’ in the name of North India’s oldest educational institution was taken at a meeting of the Zakir Hussain College Memorial Trust on Monday evening. Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, chaired the meeting.

The college was called Delhi College when it was located at Ajmere Gate before it was taken over by the Trust in the mid seventies. It has since been the demand of its alumni and staff that the word ‘Delhi’ be added to the name of the college to indicate its past.

The Trust turned down a proposal to give a deemed university status to the college and ruled that it should remain with Delhi University.

The college, which started in 1702 as a madrasa during the last years of Emperor Aurangzeb, was known as Madrasa Ghaziuddin. In 1711, it was declared as one of the three major madrasas in Delhi but in the 1790s, it closed down due to lack of funds.

In 1948, it started as Delhi College. In 1975, the name was changed to Zakir Hussain College after the Trust took over.