Employees, students pin hopes on new incumbent

Our Correspondent

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Patiala, March 18

With the Congress government in the state, all state-run institutions, especially Punjabi University, Patiala, will witness a major revamp. Since Dr Jaspal Singh has already put in his resignation papers, the vacant post of the Vice-Chancellor has become a new hot seat as speculations about the new incumbent are already in the air.

The resignation of Dr Jaspal Singh has become the matter of prime discussion in every department of the university, and employees and students are guessing the name of his successor. Dr Singh left the university in a ‘turbulence’ phase when the financial crunch and protests by employees on various issues were keeping the university authorities on tenterhooks.

According to experts, it is the one of the crucial time for the university when the state has imposed conditions on approval of financial aid and it is need of the hour to go ahead with hard reforms.

A university employee said “The monthly budget for the salaries of university employees has crossed by twofold, from almost Rs 12 crore (2013) to around Rs 25 crore (2017). It has become important to follow the hard line, especially for recruitment.”

Though the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines for the appointment of Vice-Chancellor for any university, expectations from the new top boss of Punjabi University are high. Lakhwinder Singh, Head of the Economics Department, said “The new VC should immediately issue white paper after his appointment and present a detailed report on current deficit to control the expenses.”

Gurnam Singh, a teacher, said the new VC should be able to take out the institution from this financial mess.

Rajinder Singh Raju, university employee, said “The new VC should immediately revoke the re-employment policy and actively take the decisions in favour of the university.”

Gurpreet Singh, a political science student, said “The new VC should personally intervene in all issues pertaining to the students. He should take serious note of the research work and classes in all departments.”