High court allows plea seeking Panjab University senate polls

The bench of Justice Fateh Deep Singh allowed the plea filed by seven ex-senators, who had moved high court in December, seeking senate elections and had accused the varsity of delaying the polls at the behest of ruling dispensation at the Centre.

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday allowed a petition, seeking polls to Panjab University’s (PU) apex governing body-- the senate.

PU is governed by a 91-member senate, the elections of which are pending since August last year. (HT FILE)

The bench of Justice Fateh Deep Singh allowed the plea filed by seven ex-senators, who had moved high court in December, seeking senate elections and had accused the varsity of delaying the polls at the behest of ruling dispensation at the Centre.

A detailed order from the court is awaited. However, the plea seeking polls has been allowed by the high court. The petitioners had challenged orders of August 15, 2020 and October 17, 2020 in which the senate elections were deferred in view of the prevailing conditions due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

PU, in response to the plea, had argued that it has initiated a process to hold senate elections. However, it added that the varsity has also constituted a high-level committee of experts to examine the varsity’s present governing structure in view of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, according to which the senate is to be replaced with the board of governors (BoG). PU is governed by a 91-member senate, the elections of which are pending since August last year. The varsity is currently functioning without a governing body.