No syndicate meeting at Punjabi varsity for 11 months; action on inquiry reports delayed indefinitely

The delay in holding the syndicate meeting has delayed action against officials and employees on the basis of the findings of inquiry reports related to allegations of corruption, nepotism and misuse of funds during 2007-2017

Punjabi University has not held a syndicate meeting for the past 11 months, raising questions over the administration’s working.

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The last syndicate meeting, in which administrative issues were taken up, was held on August 21, 2019, under the chairpersonship of vice-chancellor professor BS Ghuman, whose tenure was renewed for three years by the Punjab government last month. In March this year, only a special annual budget meeting that was attended by syndicate members was held.

The delay in holding the syndicate meeting has delayed action against officials and employees on the basis of the findings of inquiry reports related to allegations of corruption, nepotism and misuse of funds during 2007-2017.

FINANCIAL CRISIS NOT DISCUSSED’

A senior professor, who did not wish to be named, said, “Apart for fixing responsibility on those found guilty in inquiry reports, the administration has failed to discuss key issues concerning the varsity, primarily the acute financial crisis, by not holding a syndicate meeting. Over the past 11 months, appointments and key decisions have been made hoping that they will be approved by the syndicate, which is illegal.”

It may be mentioned that in June, the higher education department had given directions to hold a meeting. The directions have not been adhered to so far.

V-C Ghuman said “Though the meeting was held in March but only the annual budget was listed in the agenda. For other key administrative issues, the meeting will be held sooner.”

He added that the discussions were on with the newly appointed registrar to finalise the agenda.

“The probe reports will be discussed prominently in a meeting that is expected to be organised online,” he said.

It may be mentioned that even the principal secretary (higher education) had directed the vice-chancellor to hold a syndicate meeting at the earliest so as to decide future of these reports.

12 PROBES WERE ORDERED

Following the resignation of former vice-chancellor (V-C) Dr Jaspal Singh in March 2017, the then secretary of higher education, Anurag Verma, was appointed as officiating V-C.

Verma had received complaints regarding alleged irregularities in the university’s functioning from 2007 to 2017. These included allegations of nepotism, corruption, and bungling of funds in the examination branch, among other issues.

On the basis of these complaints, Verma had ordered 14 internal inquiries in April, 2017. The sealed reports of these were handed over to incumbent V-C prof BS Ghuman in December, 2017.

The V-C had formed a two-member committee, comprising of former IAS officer Jagjit Puri and former IPS officer VK Kapoor, to further investigate the internal inquiry reports.

The panel had submitted its sealed findings to the university in July, 2018, but the reports are gathering dust since.