PU Senate meet a noisy affair

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 10

Held after eight months, the Panjab University Senate meeting today witnessed fight and the same old discussion on how to generate revenue for the welfare of the institution amid shortage of funds.

Important approvals

• Senate approved 5% hike in examination fee
• Fellows to get agenda online, proceedings to be telecast live
• Power of Syndicate (till not elected) given to the university VC
• Powers of Dean given to the DUI or a nominee
• Introduction of one-year LLM Course at PU Regional Centre, Ludhiana
• Adoption of National Higher Education Qualifications Framework
• Draft policy against sexual harassment (rules & procedures)

Perhaps for the first time, two Fellows exchanged blows in front of the full House headed by Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig. Fellows Jatinder Grover and Varinder Singh Gill came to blows soon after the meeting began. The VC was yet to read the welcome note, when a Fellow raised an objection for not allowing him to speak during the December 29 online meeting. In the meantime, Grover joined the discussion.

Gill taunted Grover over his recent replacement as DSW, which snowballed into a heated argument following which they both manhandled each other. Before other Fellows intervened, Grover and Gill had exchanged blows and suffered injuries. Both Fellows were shunted out of the meeting for one hour. However, they didn’t return.

A few Fellows endorsed making the PU a central university or getting grants from the Haryana Government, while many outrightly opposed to even discuss the matter and maintained that there should be no change in the ‘situation’. Ultimately, it was ‘once again’ approved to find ways to get revenue for the university. The Senate approved the recommendation of a committee to raise the examination fee and other related charges by 5% for the session 2023-24. A majority of the members had objected to the hike.

The members also demanded to have a proper liaison between the audit teams and the university. It was alleged that due to unwanted objections in the audit, many cases of teachers’ promotion are pending. The non-teaching staff is also facing the audit team’s wrath, claimed a representative. On this, Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig pointed out certain mistakes on the part of the university officials.

During a discussion over recruitment of teachers in Punjab colleges, she asked the Fellows to avoid recommending appointments in PU-affiliated colleges on non-sanctioned post. The Senate also approved that arrears under the CAS promotion will be given as per the 6th Pay Commission till the time the university receives the grant of Rs 278 crore from the UGC. Following a suggestion by Fellow Dr Parveen Goyal, the House approved that the agenda of future meetings will be allotted to Fellows online and the proceedings of the meeting will be telecast live.

The Senate also approved that the election of two members to the Board of Finance and five fellows to the Academic Council will be conducted during the next Syndicate meeting.

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