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On last day, campus council president calls for renaming Panjab University to also include Haryana
Outgoing campus council president Anurag Dalal, hailing from Haryana, submitted a memorandum to Panjab University vice-chancellor Renu Vig to change the varsity’s name to ‘Panjab and Haryana University’
With the term of the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) ending on Thursday, outgoing president Anurag Dalal, hailing from Haryana, has submitted a memorandum to Panjab University (PU) vice-chancellor Renu Vig to change the varsity’s name to “Panjab and Haryana University”.
At the same time, PUCSC vice-president Archit Garg, who hails from Punjab, opposed the move.
Congress’ Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, who backed Anurag’s proposal, said he would place the issue in Parliament in its next session.
As per the memorandum, Dalal has pointed out both Punjab and Haryana share historical and cultural, and that it aligns with the already existing nomenclature for the high court.
Deepender Hooda said the council president had approached him, and the demand is genuine. “It will mean a lot for the students of Haryana to see their representation in PU, considering Chandigarh is also the capital of Haryana, not just Punjab,” he said.
“When 48% of the PU students are Haryanvis, it is their right that the name of Haryana be included.”
He added that with the support of other Congress MPs, he will bring this issue in Parliament.
Meanwhile, PUCSC vice-president Archit Garg said, “Panjab University’s name is iconic. It was the name we chose after the university was relocated from Pakistan. It has its own unique identity. Its name shouldn’t be changed.”
In 2023, during the varsity’s fourth global alumni meet, Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar had also raked up the issue of PU affiliation to Haryana colleges in nearby districts, like Ambala and Yamunanagar.
Three meetings chaired by former Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit with the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana earlier in 2023 remained inconclusive.
At the time of the Punjab’s reorganisation in 1966, PU was declared an “inter-state body corporate” under Section 72 (1) of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
The affiliation issue has remained a bone of contention, with Haryana offering to bear up to 40% of the total annual expenses of the cash-strapped university in exchange for affiliation to some of the colleges in Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts, and Punjab refusing to budge from its stance that the varsity belongs to it alone.
Then Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar had said in the meetings that under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, the colleges and regional centres of Haryana were affiliated to PU. However, the arrangement was withdrawn by Haryana in 1973.
Citing National Education Policy and how colleges are even getting affiliated with international universities, Khattar had said Haryana’s colleges again be affiliated with PU.
