The Aligarh Muslim University on Saturday allayed concerns over the "removal" of certain topics on Indo-Islamic history from the syllabus for admission tests to Class 11.

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), in an official note, also described as "totally baseless" the allegations of "deliberate tampering of the syllabus with the object of diluting the character of the institution".

The release, issued by the university's public relations office, said an erroneous impression is being created that the move to delete certain topics has been taken at the direction of new Vice-Chancellor Prof Naima Khatoon.

Khatoon was appointed vice-chancellor on April 22, becoming the first woman to hold the top post in more than 100 years.

A controversy erupted after reports began to circulate on social media that the university administration was allegedly trying to introduce certain measures that would erode the institution's "minority character" through the backdoor.

The allegations were also published in local newspapers on Friday.

A senior university official told PTI, "The process of updating the syllabus is not something new. It has always been a practice to revise the syllabus from time to time, according to recommendations of the University Grants Commission." According to the press note, "For quite some time, the university has been aware that the syllabus for the Indo-Islamic history section was disproportionately large to the marks allotted in the test to this topic." The decision to delete certain topics was taken based on a report prepared by a committee formed for the subject, it added.

The university also denied "unverified reports" circulating on campus, suggesting that the number of seats for the Master of Arts (MA) Urdu course will be reduced in the upcoming academic session.

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