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PTU V-C appointment: Govt to begin process afresh, says minister Mittal
Post lying vacant since January 2015 due to tussle between minister, chief secretary
The Punjab government has set into motion the process of appointing Panjab Technical University (PTU) vice-chancellor afresh after scrapping the panel of three persons selected last year.
Punjab technical education minister Madan Mohan Mittal on Wednesday said a new search committee will be formed to select the vice-chancellor (V-C), and the process for inviting applications through advertisements will begin soon.
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“We are trying to expedite the process of appointment. The new search committee, which will be headed by a new chairman, will be announced soon,” said Mittal, while talking to HT on Wednesday. Mittal said in order to maintain propriety, “somebody else” instead of the Punjab chief secretary will be the committee chairman.
The coveted post is lying vacant since January 2015 after Mittal failed to make the four-member search committee led by chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal include two more candidates in the panel.
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The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has gone public in the past blaming the chief secretary — head of the PTU governing body as well as search committee — for “violating rules” while forwarding the panel of three shortlisted candidates.
The PTU board of governors had earlier approved the panel for the V-C’s post that comprised MP Poonia, director of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh; VK Rattan, Panjab University professor; and Sanjay Marwaha, professor at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur. The panel was quashed after the controversy erupted.
