Did Punjab Govt jump the gun on Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander’s posting?

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, October 19

The state government not just reportedly jumped the gun during the appointment of Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, in August, but also during the selection of VC at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, last month.

State’s prerogative

It is the state’s prerogative to select the Vice-Chancellor through nomination or interview. — Dr Avneesh Kumar, director, medical education and research

As per the past practice, a list of eligible candidates was prepared after scrutiny of applications, following which the search and selection committee headed by the Chief Secretary, held interviews of the shortlisted candidates.

The procedure was followed during the selection of Dr Raj Bahadur as VC of the BFUHS in 2014. Similar process was adopted while appointing Prof Arvind as VC of Punjabi University, Patiala, in April 2021. However, all previous practices and norms during the selection of the VC for BFUHS were allegedly thrown to the wind, said sources.

According to the sources, no interviews of the shortlisted candidates — Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander, Dr BS Bal and Dr KK Aggarwal — were conducted. As per norms, three names should have been forwarded to the Governor for his approval, who is also a Chancellor of the state universities. However, the government sent just one name, which the Governor turned down last week.

The process of finalising the name was yet to be concluded when Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced the name of Dr Wander from his official Twitter handle, added the sources.