After more than a two-year gap, the deans and secretaries of eleven faculties were finally elected at Panjab University (PU) on Monday.
The elections began with the faculty of dairying, animal husbandry and agriculture, where Amit Joshi was elected as dean.
Anju Suri was elected as the dean of arts faculty, while Ashok Kumar and Yograj Angrish, who were contesting from languages faculty scored equal votes. They both will be dean of the faculty for six months each.
Navdeep Goyal was elected as dean from science faculty, Keshav Malhotra was elected from the faculty of business management and commerce and Amrit Pal Toor was elected dean from engineering faculty.
From the faculty of education NR Sharma was elected dean and Neeru Malik was elected from the faculty of design and fine arts. Poonam Piplani was elected dean of faculty of pharmaceutical sciences.
Akhtar Mahmood and Rajinder Kaur were elected deans from medical science and law faculty respectively.
Two years without deans
PU is functioning without faculty deans’ for over two years now. The one-year term of various faculty deans had ended in January 2021 without the selection of their successors since there was no senate and syndicate in place at the time due to repeated delays in their election process owing to Covid-19 pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}PU is functioning without faculty deans’ for over two years now. The one-year term of various faculty deans had ended in January 2021 without the selection of their successors since there was no senate and syndicate in place at the time due to repeated delays in their election process owing to Covid-19 pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}The elections for picking deans were slated to take place after two years in December. However, at that time, the university decided not to include professors above the age of 60 in the list of ex-officio members of their respective faculties. Afterwards, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the university to add faculty members above the age of 60 in the voter list for the election of faculty deans and, subsequently, the university within hours deferred the polls.
Why deans are important
Deans preside over faculty meetings where all academic work, including change in syllabus and new courses are decided. They are also members of committees for career advancement scheme (CAS) promotions and direct recruitment of teachers. Additionally, research degree committees that approve synopsis of students are also headed by deans of respective faculties.
Paves way for CAS promotions
As the promotions of over 100 university teachers under CAS are pending due to the absence of faculty deans, a senior university official maintained that the university will initiate the process of CAS promotions immediately.