Plan to set up skill institute mired in legal tangles

Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 16

The plan of Technical Education Minister Charanjit Channi to set up Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute in his constituency Chamkaur Sahib may take longer to realise.

A Ropar court has ordered a stay on acquiring 42 acres of land which was to be done with Rs 19.76 crore financial aid from IKG Punjab Technical University (PTU).

After a petition was filed by residents over changing the nature of the ‘charand’ land by proposing to do construction work, the court of Civil Judge (junior division), Ropar, Rubina Josan has directed the complainants as well as the nagar panchayat of Chamkaur Sahib to maintain status quo regarding the suit property in every manner. A notice in this regard has been issued to the panchayat for July 5. From the jamabandi of 2012-13, the court found that the suit property was in possession of the inhabitants of the village and was reserved for grazing their cattle. The ownership though was found with the nagar panchayat.

Notably, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had laid the foundation stone of Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute on March 6. The land was to be acquired for Rs 47.05 lakh per acre. The institute, which was to become a constituent college of the university, is also a part of the skill development scheme of the Centre as per which it was proposed to be one of the centres of excellence. A major industry was also slated to join as a partner in the project.

A meeting of the board of governors of PTU was held on Saturday in Chandigarh under the chairmanship of scientist and ex-Vice Chancellor SK Salwan. He said, “We studied the progress of the skill institute and took up other issues on the agenda.”

Expansion plan

The university also has plans to acquire additional 100 acres in its vicinity to expand its functioning as an academic campus. It is currently set up in 76 acres.

Decline in admissions

With the meeting being held just ahead of the admissions, the university officials are also wary of the falling admissions on the campus. A copy of the agenda of the meeting read, “The admissions have fallen from 45,139 students in 2015 to 33,833 in 2018 against available seats of 90,415.” This means that only 37 per cent seats available in PTU colleges could be filled last year.

Was to become centre of excellence 

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had laid the foundation stone of Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute on March 6. The institute, which was to become a constituent college of the university, is also a part of the skill development scheme of the Centre as per which it was proposed to be one of the centres of excellence. A major industry was also slated to join as a partner in the project.