Syndicate meeting postponed

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7

The meeting of Panjab University’s top governing body, the Syndicate, which was slated for 11 am today at the Syndicate Hall, was postponed to December 13.

While the authorities of the PU have accounted “administrative reasons” for the change in the meeting schedule, most Syndics are betwixt and between — offering a series of ambiguous events that led to the rescheduling of the meeting. Some Syndics, however, revealed that a faction of Syndics was cheesed off over two issues — one concerning Mritunjay Kumar and other about Prof Sukhwinder Singh of the UIET— not being tabled in the additional agenda of the meeting.

“A clique of Syndics wanted to discuss the issue of fixing Mritunjay Kumar’s salary and regarding the conformation of Prof Sukhwinder Singh with the VC. These issues were not listed in the tabled agenda. They tried to reason it out with the VC, who proposed that the meeting be postponed. There was paucity of time, I believe, as the VC was tad too busy and wanted to finish up the meeting as soon as possible,” one of the Syndics said.

Another Syndic, requesting anonymity, said stenographers, including other non-teaching staff members that run important errands at the meetings of the Syndicate, were left clock-watching when members and the VC didn’t turn up at the hall. “No one arrived at the hall even till noon,” the syndic said.

Since the table agenda, which is proposed by the VC, is handed to the Syndics in the hall when they are seated for the meeting, it is uncertain how they accessed the contents of the agenda even before seeing it and where and how they met the VC, if not at the hall. “Some of the syndics gathered outside the Admin Block and discussed with the VC their concerns regarding the issues that weren’t mentioned in the agenda. However, the VC suggested that the meeting be postponed,” a source said.