E-Paper
Mass resignations rock Punjabi University
Dean academic affairs, registrar, 8 heads of department among 28 top officials put in papers expressing dissatisfaction over working of officiating V-C, an IAS officer
An administrative crisis loomed over Punjabi University, Patiala, as 28 of its top officials, including the dean of academic affairs, the registrar and the heads of eight academic departments, resigned en masse on Thursday, expressing their dissatisfaction over the working of officiating vice-chancellor (V-C) Ravneet Kaur, a senior IAS officer.
This comes barely two weeks after the state government came to the rescue of the beleaguered varsity by announcing a special financial grant of ₹90 crore.
Others who resigned included the controller of examination; dean of colleges; dean of directorate of international students; additional dean (research); additional dean (alumni); additional dean of student welfare; director of women’s studies; and incharge of internal audit.
The resignations were filed following consultations with the office-bearers of the Punjabi University Teachers’ Union (PUTA), which along with other non-teaching staff unions has been protesting against the alleged delay in promotions and other administrative issues.
In the evening, officiating V-C Ravneet Kaur, who is additional chief secretary (forests) in the Punjab government, called an emergency meeting with dean (academic affairs) Amritpal Kaur, registrar Devinder Singh and the PUTA members in Chandigarh. “The meeting was scheduled for Friday to discuss demands of the protesting unions, but it was advanced by a day in the wake of the resignations by top varsity officials. The issue will be resolved at the earliest,” the officiating V-C said.
PUTA secretary Avneet Pal Singh said the bureaucratic interference in the varsity’s affairs was damaging as no one is paying heed to the demands of the employees. “The officiating vice-chancellor is working in an autocratic manner. The files pertaining to promotion of 105 teachers have been put on hold for five months. Moreover, the top officials of the varsity are feeling suffocated and ignored due to which they resigned in one go,” he said.
Ravneet Kaur was appointed the officiating V-C by the Punjab government after Prof BS Ghuman had resigned from the post in November last year.
‘Staff unions of hindering administrative working’
Accusing the staff unions of hindering the administrative working of the university, Kaur said, “They have laid siege to the administrative offices and are preventing the important issues from being discussed. There is no reason of holding promotion cases as the approvals will be given after proper scrutiny of each case.”
The extension cases were cleared in last syndicate meeting, while the promotion cases will be put up in the upcoming conference, she added.
Illegal appointees on promotion list
The varsity management is scrutinising each promotion case as the list has the names of those allegedly recruited in an illegal manner besides the ones seeking previous service benefits, it is learnt.
An inquiry into the appointment of 62 assistant professors hired from 2009 to 2016 is already pending. The varsity had roped in the state vigilance bureau to probe the matter and sent all records related to the recruitment of teachers from 2009 to 2016 to the vigilance.
In a complaint filed in 2017, it was alleged that these assistant professors were appointed by violating the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms related to National Eligibility Test (NET) and PhD. It was also alleged that wards and relatives of the then ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders were recruited on regular posts, ignoring the eligible candidates.
