Chandigarh: After no syndicate, Panjab University now sans elected deans

The deans for various faculties, such as arts, languages and sciences, are elected in dean elections, which were to be conducted, along with the syndicate elections and a senate meeting towards the end of December last year

With the services of the elected deans of various faculties at Panjab University (PU) ending on January 31, the varsity is now without the deans while it has already been without a syndicate since the start of this year. The varsity’s functioning is likely to suffer because of this. PU has finished one month without a syndicate after the previous syndicate’s term finished in December 2023

An official said while the court had put a stay on only the syndicate elections, the other two events were also cancelled owing to the logistics and the cost of conducting them. (HT File)

The deans for various faculties, such as arts, languages and sciences, are elected in dean elections, which were to be conducted, along with the syndicate elections and a senate meeting towards the end of December last year. However, after a stay by the Punjab and Haryana high court on syndicate elections in December 2023, the senate meeting and dean elections were deferred. While the senate meeting has been rescheduled to February 10, there is no update on when the dean elections will be held.

An official said while the court had put a stay on only the syndicate elections, the other two events were also cancelled owing to the logistics and the cost of conducting them. The announcement of the February 10 senate meeting has left many feeling uncertain about when the next elections will be held.

A stay on syndicate elections was put following a plea by three professors in June 2022. The matter had reached the court after the varsity chancellor disapproved the election of six candidates from the constituency of faculties.

A former dean, who wished to remain anonymous, said the biggest impact will be on the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in the PU-affiliated colleges from the next academic session. The former dean said under the NEP, a new syllabus is prepared, which is finalised by the dean after holding meetings with the faculty. This will likely suffer, further the promotions made during this period can also be challenged in court as a full selection committee was not present for this.

Professor Gurmeet Singh who was a syndicate member last year said since the syndicate meets every month, it’s an important body and without it, the teachers who got promotions under the CAS scheme still haven’t received their promotion letters.

Speaking about this, PU vice-chancellor (V-C) Renu Vig said in emergencies the senate can authorise the V-C to use the syndicate’s powers and officials like the dean of university instruction can help do the work of elected deans. The matter will be brought before the senate on February 10. She added that PU is working on NEP implementation and it will be done in colleges from the next academic session.

This is not the first time that the university has been without a syndicate and dean of faculties. In 2021 also during the COVID-19 epidemic, former V-C Raj Kumar took charge of the university for around two years.

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