Notify PU Senate election schedule: Plea in HC

Amid protests by students demanding the announcement of long-pending Senate elections, a plea was filed today before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to Panjab University and other respondents to forthwith declare or notify the poll schedule for “various constituencies of the Senate”.

The application stated that vested interests opposed to facing the electoral process had influenced the authorities to derail and mislead the system into dismantling the university’s democratic and heritage fabric for their own motives. It said the very foundation of representative participation in the Senate and the principle of democratic decision-making by majority were sought to be undermined. It added that “the term of the newly elected Senate was to commence from November 1, 2024”.

The applicant, Harpreet Singh Dua, through counsels R Kartikeya and R Akanksha, contended that they – “suspecting foul play in the deliberate delay in holding of the Senate elections” – had in the ongoing petition sought directions to hold an “inquiry and fix accountability of the officer concerned, who had maliciously and deliberately delayed the notification of the poll schedule”.

They added that the high court had issue a notice of motion on the petition and that the matter was pending for December 16. “Last opportunity was granted to the Chancellor to submit his response, if any, vide order dated March 27. As a matter of record, despite passage of over seven months, no response to the present writ petition has been received on behalf of the Chancellor”.

The counsel said an unfortunate development had taken place during the pendency of the matter “at the behest of certain vested interests, especially some individuals, who did not have the courage to face the electoral process themselves and had failed to aid the cause of their supporters to succeed in the electoral process”.

The counsel added that these individuals had apparently misled the authorities “into dismantling the heritage and democratic fabric of the University by abolishing the electoral process for their own sinister motives”.

It was added that an attempt was then made, vide notification dated October 28, to downgrade the Senate’s size. Certain important constituencies were deliberately deprived of their right to elect members to the Senate. This was done without jurisdiction and in a completely arbitrary manner

“Similarly, the second important body, the Syndicate, was also made subservient by adopting the process of nomination so as to kill the democratic spirit of electoral representation as mandated in the principal legislation. Even for the remaining constituencies, the proposed amendment was aimed at ensuring that the elected representatives fall in strict minority and can be easily overruled by the numbers gained through nominations. Hence, the basic fundamentals of representation of various wings in the Senate as well as the democratic process of decision-making by majority were attempted to be hijacked”.