PU engineering admissions: Retain reservation for single girl child, border area students, suggests panel

Recommendations on continuing with reservation are yet to be approved by PU vice-chancellor Raj Kumar

Amid growing demands to not dissolve the additional seats for single girl child, and students from rural and border areas, a Panjab University (PU) panel on Tuesday suggested that the reservation should be retained for admissions in engineering courses offered at the varsity like in previous years.

As per admission schedule for PU engineering courses, the registrations will close on October 13, the first round of counselling will start from October 21 and the first round of seat allotment will be held on October 25. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The panel was constituted on Tuesday after which a meeting was held to discuss the matter. The members of the panel recommended that these reservations should be given as per previous years’ practice. However, the recommendations of the panel are yet to be approved by vice-chancellor Raj Kumar and a final announcement is still awaited.

The admission process at PU’s University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) and University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET) are currently underway. But additional seats for single girl children and students from rural and border areas were not available as per this year’s handbook of information (admissions) for the courses governed by AICTE, DCI, AERB etc.

A member of the panel said, “It was discussed that reservation should be given like in previous years since this decision can be taken by the syndicate.”

The issue was raised in recent days and the move was condemned by the students. On Tuesday, Students For Society (SFS) also submitted a memorandum to the varsity requesting them to reverse the decision. “Universities are meant to uplift marginalised sections, but by cutting the seats, marginalised sections will be pushed to the wall,” the student body had said in the memorandum.

University issues statement

PU also issued a statement on Tuesday stating the varsity was looking into the matter. “The issue of reserved seats for single girl children and students from rural and border areas in UIET and UICET is under active consideration of PU authorities towards positive development,” read the varsity statement.

As per the admission schedule, the registrations will close on October 13, the first round of counselling will start from October 21 and the first round of seat allotment will be held on October 25.