Despite VC’s objection, PUTA secy is Senator

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, October 17

Despite objections of Panjab University (PU) Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover to nominate secretary of Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) Prof JK Goswami as the Senate member, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu has nominated him. 

Naidu is the Chancellor of PU. Usually, the PUTA president is nominated as the Senate member. But this year, Prof Gill emerged victorious in PUTA polls and became the president. Prof Goswami was elected as the secretary. 

Prof Gill was already a Senate member as she had won her seat in 2016. When PUTA approached the VC to get secretary nominated this year, the VC said that gazette notification was for PUTA president and not for the secretary.  He had suggested to Naidu, through a letter dated September 7, that Prof Gill should resign as the Senator so that she could be nominated to the Senate as PUTA president and fresh elections could be held for the vacated Senate seat. He also recommended that if she doesn’t resign then nominate Prof Promila Pathak to the Senate as she was PUTA president for 2016-17 and an unanimous choice.  He had reasoned, “The objective of giving membership of the Senate to PUTA president must have been to give a teacher in the university who enjoys support of the community an opportunity to articulate the concerns of the university teaching faculty. The previous president was elected unanimously so she can be continued as the Senate member until another person comes in to claim the vacancy as the PUTA president.” 

But Prof Gill wrote directly to Naidu and sent him the PUTA resolution for nomination of the PUTA secretary, to which he agreed.