Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, December 31
After protests by student political groups and Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) this year, the Panjab University campus recently saw another series of protests against the Vice-Chancellor by the Senate and Syndicate members.
In the past five years, it was perhaps for the first time that a Senate meeting was adjourned sine die.
While the authorities maintained that nearly four agendas were passed, many senators refuted this claim. Allegations of corruption against the VC were raised during the meeting and key agendas were ignored.
The VC remained unavailable to comment on the allegations made against him.
Some faculty members said that such protests will tarnish the image of the university.
A senior faculty member said, “What inspiration are we giving to our students? Such protests tarnish the image of this university, which has high standards of education and a glorious past. Syndicate members, PUTA members and others will be writing to the Vice-President of India and Chancellor, Panjab University. During his maiden visit, the Chancellor was presented with a list of complaints and the rift is now clearly visible. This has to be stopped for the betterment of the institution.”
Another rift emerges
A day after the ‘hyper’ Senate meeting, another rift emerged on campus on Saturday after Gaurav Gaur, Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Work, resigned from the positions of APRO amp; DPR. Gaur wrote a letter to the VC alleging that he was not officially informed about the changing of his guard.
“I was given the post of Assistant Public Relation Officer (APRO) as additional charge by the VC. I was later authorised to work as the officiating Director, Public Relations (DPR). However, Dr Namita Gupta, Associate Professor at Centre for Human Rights and Duties, has been given the charge of the DPR without formally withdrawing the charge from me. She is reported to have resumed the charge of DPR in my absence. I hereby resign from both my posts of APRO and the officiating DPR,” Gaur stated in the letter.
“The university authorities have not received any resignation so far. As per the department concerned, Gaur was given the additional charge of the DPR and additional charges can be taken away from the person at any time by the competent authority. Also, he was informed about the change in the APRO position through mail,” Dr Namita said.
