E-Paper
Ludhiana: PAU board meeting postponed thrice in a month
On January 23, as the board members reached the civil secretariat, they were told that the meeting had been postponed once again
A meeting of the Punjab Agricultural University’s (PAU) board of management, which had been slated for January 23, has been postponed third time in the past one month. Its last meeting was organised on July 31, 2024. On December 23, the meeting was notified for January 3 before being postponed. On January 10, it was again called for a meeting on January 15 but its postponement was announced on January 13. Finally, it was to be held on January 23 but when the board members reached the civil secretariat, they were told that the meeting had been postponed once again.
The meeting was to start at 11:30 am. Initially, it was announced to be held at 12:30 pm but it was called off minutes before that. The board includes 13 members with vice chancellor being the chairman and registrar as secretary. Other members include chief secretary to Punjab government, additional chief secretary of the department of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, principal secretary of finance department, director of agriculture and farmers welfare, director of ICAR-Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), two agricultural scientists and three progressive farmers. Among the special invitees are PAU Teachers’ Association (PAUTA) president, director of horticulture and GADVASU VC.
As per rules, the board is supposed to convene every two months, but PAU officials said that the university ensures a meeting every 2-3 months.
All the important decisions regarding the university are made in this meeting. One of the issues include appointment of deans for various colleges of the university as these responsibilities, for months, are being handled by deans of other colleges as additional charges.
PAUTA president Prof Mandeep Gill said it was the first time that the meeting was not done for such a long interval. “It was postponed twice. Finally when it was convened, the members, after waiting for over an hour, were told it had been postponed again. This is disrespectful to officials, like VC and scientists,” he said. He also flayed the decision to call the meeting at the civil secretariat, instead of the university’s camp office at Sector 70 in Chandigarh.
PAU VC Dr Satbir Singh Gosal said, “I can understand. The government officials, who are part of the board, must have been busy. We will have a meeting soon.”
Meanwhile, students believe that this was disrespectful to the board of management and the university’s reputation. “Such a move (postponement) is a clear disregard to the university and its officials,” said student leader Angrej Mann. Pointing to university officials’ busy schedule, he said, “They take out time for these meetings by putting other works on hold and then they are told about postponement of meetings.”
Registrar Rishipal Singh, when approached for a comment, didn’t respond to texts and multiple calls.
