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Academic activities can’t be sacrificed for political aspirations: HC on PU senate polls
The court was hearing a plea from former senators of university, including HS Dua, seeking directions for the notification of senate elections
The Punjab and Haryana high court has said that for the political or electoral aspirations of some people, the academic activity of an institution can’t be sacrificed.
“This court reminds the students that their admission to the university by their parents is fundamentally for the purpose of receiving education and thus the prime focus of all students should remain acquisition of knowledge. Academic activities cannot be compromised or sacrificed at the altar of electoral or political aspirations,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry said while disposing of a plea seeking HC’s intervention and seeking notification for senate polls at Panjab University.
The plea was disposed of on Friday and a detailed order was made available on Tuesday. The court was hearing a plea from former senators of university, including HS Dua, seeking directions for the notification of senate elections.
The application was moved in an ongoing petition, pending since 2024 – when the senate term ended – seeking the declaration of the schedule of the senate election.
The court took note of submissions of Additional Solicitor General of India, Satya Pal Jain that the process for holding the senate elections shall be commenced as expeditiously as possible. “Without entering into the merits, this court disposes of this petition, with the hope and expectation that elections to the senate will be conducted as expeditiously as possible,” it said.
