Amid tussle over senate polls, Vice-Prez Jagdeep Dhankhar to be chief guest at PU global alumni meet
In the schedule released earlier this week, PU had stated that Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat, also a PU alumni, will be the chief guest at the event. Sources revealed that the varsity received information regarding Dhankhar’s attendance on Thursday.
Amid the ongoing tussle over senate elections, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the chancellor of Panjab University (PU), is all set to be the chief guest at the Global Alumni Meet on Saturday.

In the schedule released earlier this week, PU had stated that Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat, also a PU alumni, will be the chief guest at the event. Sources revealed that the varsity received information regarding Dhankhar’s attendance on Thursday.
This delay in announcing the chancellor’s participation is being seen as a direct fallout of the ongoing agitation by the Panjab University Bachao Morcha, an umbrella body of students and senators, who have been staging a sit-in outside vice-chancellor Renu Vig’s office for the last 58 days to press for senate elections.
The Morcha, in a statement released earlier this week, had demanded that a meeting with Dhankhar be arranged for students.
PU officials had earlier said the election process had been halted as the final approval from the chancellor’s office had not come in time.
Earlier responding to a question by Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar had
reaffirmed the university’s autonomy under the Panjab University Act, 1947, and said senate elections were to be conducted by PU after approval from the chancellor.
Tewari had asked whether the government was aware that the process for PU senate elections had not been initiated despite its tenure ending on October 31, 2024.
The PU Act provides that the election process must be initiated 240 days before the expiry of the term of the senate. He had, thus, sought to know whether there were plans to convert PU into a central university.
“What the education minister is saying, without saying it, is if senate elections are not being held it is not their responsibility. We have nothing to do with it,” Tewari had said on X, after the government response.
Varsity starts preparations
Meanwhile, PU has started preparations for the vice-president’s visit. The winter session of Parliament is to end on Friday, and he is expected to come to Chandigarh on Saturday. A meeting of security staff was held on Thursday. Another meeting is likely on Friday to finalise the preparations. It is not clear whether Dhankhar and Acharya will both be the chief guests here.
Last year too, there was confusion over Dhankhar’s visit during the global alumni event. The morning event had to be shifted to the afternoon to accommodate Dhankhar’s schedule. Many visitors had pointed out how it was odd that the department-wise alumni programmes had preceded the main event by Dhankhar in the Law Auditorium which went on till the evening.
As per the schedule shared by PU, other eminent alumni expected to be present include former governors of Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland and former commissioner of police Delhi KK Paul, editor-in-chief of The Print, Shekhar Gupta, former director general of National Disaster Response Force Atul Karwal and former chief election commissioner Sunil Arora.
Various departments are holding separate events for Saturday. School of Communication Studies (SCS), PU, will hold the third professor PP Singh Memorial Lecture on Saturday with Shekhar Gupta as the speaker here.
