Despite revolt by Punjabi Dept, Syndicate approves hony professorship for Dr Deepak

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10

Despite revolt by the entire Punjabi Department faculty, Syndicate of Panjab University (PU) today approved Honorary Professorship for Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh. Only two members registered their dissent — Rabindernath Sharma and NR Sharma.

Syndicate is the governing body of the PU.

Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh is former Dean, College Development Council, PU; former Dean of Faculty of Languages; former Secretary General of the Punjab Arts Council and former PU Senator too.

Rabindernath said you had brought all appointments to chairs and for honorary professorship through a procedure.

“In case of Dr Ashok Utreja, a proper procedure has been followed and a committee of the department recommended his case. But in case of Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, the department was bypassed. I do not want to comment on the person but his academic qualifications should be assessed. People are looking at us. The Chancellor could object to it,” he said.

He said Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover assured that no money and accommodation would be provided to Dr Deepak.

The letter of faculty members of the Punjabi Department to the Vice-Chancellor says: “We have come to know that Prof Deepak Manmohan Singh is being designated as Honorary Professor by the PU, Chandigarh, at the age of 77 without following any norms and rules. At no stage any committee was constituted to assess his academic merit. Moreover, the School of Punjabi Studies is not considered to give its opinion on the matter. He had completed his PhD in 18 years. And the same thesis is published in the form of a book. Except that Dr Deepak has no notable academic merit in the form of research papers, seminar papers or books.”

Fellow Prof Navdeep Goyal said: “There is politics in the department. He is the one who has served here. If someone is coming from outside then going through a committee is fine. His credentials are known. As per the PU Act, the Syndicate on the recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor can make a recommendation to the Chancellor for honorary professorship.”

Issue of renaming of Dyal Singh College raised

During the zero-hour session in the Syndicate today, Senator Rabindernath Sharma raised the issue of renaming of Dyal Singh College in Delhi to Vande Mataram College. According to ‘Dyal Singh Majithia and his Legacy’, published in The Tribune on November 22, the college was set up in 1910 in Lahore and in 1959, the Dyal Singh College Trust took over the Camp College that had been set up by Panjab University in Delhi in 1948 for families displaced by the Partition. The trust handed over the college to Delhi University in 1978. Sharma said renaming was wrong and undermined the legacy of Dyal Singh Majithia. PU Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover suggested that a cultural centre in his name could be set up on the campus.