Punjab Govt favours Guv as university Chancellor

Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 13

The Punjab Government has submitted its recommendations regarding governance reforms to the 11-member high-level committee formed by M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice-President of India and PU Chancellor.

In one its submissions, the state government has recommended reviewing the set precedent for appointing the Vice-President of India as the Chancellor, Panjab University, and instead has favoured giving the charge to the Punjab Governor.

Paramjit Singh, Director of Public Instruction (C), Punjab, has made the submission to Prof RP Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, who is the chairman of the committee. The submission was made on the advice of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

The circular stated: “A meeting under the chairmanship of the CPS/CM was held on April 29 to discuss the issues. The meeting was also attended by the VC, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and others. After discussion on the recommendation of the members (who attended the meeting), the Chief Minister has given the advice on the issues.”

The state government had earlier asked the committee not to finalise the draft recommendations on governance reforms. “Suggestions were made to the government regarding the composition of the PU Senate as suggested in draft report of the sub-committee.”

A sub-committee had earlier proposed changing the existing structure of 15 registered graduates (elected) and 36 nominated by the Chancellor with four registered post-graduates by election and 18 academicians to be nominated by the Chancellor out of which nine would be appointed in consultation with the Punjab Government.

Advice by the state

• Though the committee headed by Prof RP Tiwari, VC, Central University of Punjab , Bathinda, has been constituted by the Chancellor, there is no such provision in the existing statutes of the university. Nevertheless, the recommendations of the committee should be considered by the Senate of the university.
• As far as the suggestions regarding the elections from among the registered postgraduates and nominations of academicians by the Chancellor are concerned, the proposed viewpoint, as suggested by the sub-committee, is that four of Senate members be elected from the registered postgraduates fellows by election through simple majority voting
• The top four highest voted contestants shall stand elected and voting shall be through one-line system only. Out of the four, three may be from Punjab and one from Chandigarh. Eighteen members of Senate be nominated by the Chancellor from amongst the academician, out of which nine may be elected in consultation with the Punjab Government.
• The Department of Higher Education should ensure that no decision whatsoever be taken in the matters concerning the governance of Panjab University which is against the existing statutes and interest of the State of Punjab.

Committee members

The 11-member committee includes Prof RP Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda; Prof Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, Director, (IIM) Amritsar; Prof VS Chauhan, Chairman, Executive Committee, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)- Nominee of Chairman, UGC Member; Prof PK Raina, Director, lIT, Ropar; Prof KN Pathak, former Vice-Chancellor, PU; Prof Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, PU; Dr Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar- Nominee of the Chief Minister, Punjab; Paramjit Singh, DPI (Colleges), Government of Punjab; Rubinderjit Singh Brar, Director (Higher Education), Chandigarh Administration; Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor-General of India – Nominee of the Chancellor, Panjab University, and Vikram Nayyar, Registrar, PU, Member Secretary.