E-Paper
Senate polls: Former PUTA presidents, deans in fray
Voting for the constituencies of professors and associate/assistant professors of PU teaching departments will take place on August 10 and counting will be held on August 12
Six candidates are in fray from the constituency of professors of the university’s teaching departments for the election of two members to the Panjab University (PU) senate.
Two candidates, Akshaya Kumar and Rajat Sandhir, have previously served as presidents of the Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA). The other candidates include Jatinder Grover of the education department, who is also former dean faculty of education; Malkiat Chand Sidhu of botany department and former dean faculty of dairying, animal husbandry and agriculture; Sukesh Sharma of the biochemistry department; and Sanjay Kaushik of University Business School (UBS), who is also PU’s dean college development council.
The constituency of professors of PU teaching departments is throwing up prospects of a multi-cornered contest in which Rajat Sandhir and Jatinder Grover have been fielded by the Goyal group; Sanjay Kaushik and Sukesh Sharma are aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); and Akshaya Kumar and Malkiat Chand Sidhu are contesting independently.
Akshaya Kumar, a former two-time PUTA president, said, “There is gross centralisation of powers and PU needs larger participation of professors who have worked for the varsity all these years. I will ensure that professors who have enhanced the credentials of PU are given a dignified space in decision-making.”
Voting tomorrow, counting on August 12
Voting for the constituencies of professors and associate/assistant professors of PU teaching departments will take place on August 10 and counting will be held on August 12. The professors’ constituency has 279 voters while the constituency of associate/assistant professors has 439 voters.
Rajat Sandhir, a former senator, said, “My agenda is teacher and institution centric. I will work to restore the golden legacy of the university. My appeal to colleagues would be to vote keeping in mind past performance.”
Jatinder Grover said, “I will try that more faculty is appointed and more funds are received from the Centre for the upliftment of the university.”
From the constituency of associate/assistant professors of PU teaching departments, seven candidates are in fray for the election of two members to the senate. A multi-cornered contest is also expected from this constituency.
While Parveen Goyal and Parveen Kumar have been fileded by the Goyal group, Dinesh Kumar, Navreet and Samarjit Sihotra are contesting independently. Suman Mor and Ajay Ranga are aligned with the BJP group.
Polling will be held at PU auditorium; regional centre, Sri Muktsar Sahib; PU rural centre, Kauni, Sri Muktsar Sahib; regional centre, Ludhiana; and SS Giri PU Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur.
