Affiliation row: KUTA opposes speaker’s request

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, November 11

The Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association has opposed the demand of Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, in which he requested Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu to restore the share of Haryana in Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Gupta called for the affiliation of Panchkula and Ambala colleges with PU.

He had raised the matter with Home Minister Amit Shah too. In a letter to Shah, he had written that students from Panchkula district had to suffer due to the unavailability of PU-affiliated colleges in the district. They seek admission in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Muktsar, where they get 15 per cent quota as against 85 per cent for locals.

KUTA president Sanjeev Sharma said: “The demand of the speaker was against the interest of Haryana’s education. There seems to be a concern for the financial crisis of PU and not KU. The move seems to favour Panjab University at the cost of Kurukshetra University for electoral gains.”

“Kurukshetra University is the only A+ graded institution of Haryana and ranks even better than Panjab University. Already the number of districts affiliated to Kurukshetra University has been reduced to almost half leading to a decline in student strength and the availability of lesser financial resources. Now, Haryana has more than 14 universities in the state. So, there is no need for a stake in PU. It was useful in the ’70s, but doesn''t serve any purpose now,” he said.

Another senior professor said: “It was strange that instead of making efforts for Kurukshetra University, the government was more interested in the welfare of Panjab University. Transferring the colleges of Panchkula and Ambala to Panjab University will be highly disastrous for KU. On the one hand it will devoid students of quality education in these two cities and on the other hand it will erode financial resources from Kurukshetra University.”

The KUTA president said: “The same issue was raised in the previous regime of the BJP and KUTA exhibited its resentment even then. A meeting of KUTA will be held in a couple of days to decide the future course of action and we will also launch the agitation to mark our resentment.”