Tewari takes PU overhaul fight to Vice-Prez

Chandigarh Congress MP and former Union Minister Manish Tewari on Thursday met Vice-President CP Radhakrishnan in New Delhi and apprised him of the continuing impasse over the restructuring of Panjab University’s Senate and Syndicate. The MP requested for a fresh round of consultations with stakeholders.

The meeting came a day after the Union Government put on hold its controversial Panjab University (PU) overhaul through two fresh notifications issued on November 4. One rescinded the October 30 order that had redrawn the university’s governance structure, while the other retained those changes but deferred their implementation “to a fresh date appointed by the Central Government.”

The Tribune had first broken the story on Saturday, revealing the Centre’s plan to abolish PU’s elected Syndicate, slash the Senate strength from 91 to 31, and convert both into nominated bodies under Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The exposé triggered a political and academic storm across Punjab and Chandigarh, with student protests, legal threats and a barrage of opposition criticism forcing Delhi to pause the overhaul.

Earlier, Tewari, among the first to denounce the move, told The Tribune that the Centre’s decision was “constitutionally untenable and historically flawed”.

Reiterating his stance after meeting the Vice-President, he said, “The government should rescind the notification and initiate de novo (from the beginning) consultations with all stakeholders. If amendments are agreed by consensus, they should be enacted by the Punjab Assembly through the Panjab University Act, 1947, not through executive orders under Section 72.”

Panjab University’s governance flows from a state statute enacted in 1947 after the Partition and cannot be rewritten by invoking a transitional clause meant for administrative adjustments six decades ago. “To use Section 72 now to restructure the Senate and Syndicate is legally impermissible. It is a violation of federalism and a clear overreach,” said Tewari.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, whose government is preparing a legal challenge, termed the Centre’s intervention “dictatorial and unconstitutional,” accusing it of “attacking Punjab’s rights and heritage.” Punjab Ministers Harjot Singh Bains and Harpal Singh Cheema, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, AAP MP Malvinder Singh Kang, Congress leaders Pawan Kumar Bansal, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Partap Singh Bajwa, have opposed the Centre’s move. Also, former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and AAP legislators warned that the move undermined the state’s legislative domain and the university’s autonomous character.

Student unions across the region locked gates, AAP staged candlelight marches in protest against the Central Government’s decision. They celebrated the partial rollback as a “people’s victory”.

Former Senators and legal experts, meanwhile, are examining whether Delhi’s reliance on Section 72 to amend a state law can withstand judicial scrutiny.

Defending the overhaul, senior BJP functionaries and former Vice-Chancellors — Prof KN Pathak and Arun Grover — besides former MP and eleven-time Senator Satya Pal Jain, who was part of the reform committee, argued that the changes were long overdue to curb campus politicking and align governance with the National Education Policy. “The reforms are constitutionally sound and necessary for academic efficiency,” they maintained.

The controversy, however, has gone well beyond academic reform to touch raw political nerves. For many in Punjab, the Centre’s move rekindles old anxieties over Chandigarh’s status and the erosion of Punjab’s control over shared institutions. Opposition parties have likened it to the farm law episode —an “imposition without consultation”.

While Delhi’s late-night pause has cooled tempers, it has not ended the debate. The structural changes remain on paper, awaiting a new effective date. As Manish Tewari’s intervention takes the matter to the Vice President’s court, Panjab University’s fate hangs in a constitutional limbo — caught between reform and rollback, legality and legitimacy, Centre and state.