Chandigarh: Late Friday evening, before the Panjab University here closed its doors for the weekend, the central government’s department of higher education issued a hurried notification. It clarified that the status of the university’s senate will remain unchanged, amid mounting protests from students against the Centre’s decision to dissolve the university’s elected senate and syndicate, and replace them with nominated bodies.
Senate and syndicate are the university’s two primary decision-making bodies.
In a press statement that followed the notification, the Union Ministry of Education said it had “accepted the demand of the students” and confirmed that “no change in the Senate of Panjab University” would be made. The ministry said the decision followed consultations with students, teachers, former Vice-Chancellors and the current V-C, and a review of feedback received after the October 30 notification.
“Having regard to the above, it has now been decided that the notification changing the constitution and composition of the Senate and Syndicate shall stand withdrawn,” it said.
This was the fourth notification issued on the subject by the Government of India within 10 days, taking multiple U-turns about the constitution of the university’s senate amid the snowballing protests.
It began with an October 28 decision to dissolve the Senate and Syndicate, replacing them with nominated bodies. Then came another notification on 4 November, revoking the earlier decision. That same day, another notification was issued to keep the October 28 decision in abeyance. And then came the latest notification on 7 November, rescinding the October 28 notification altogether.
The October 28 notification triggered widespread protests by students, with the support of all political parties of Punjab, except BJP.
Despite the Government of India’s uncharacteristic press statement Friday evening, the students have declared that they will continue with the joint protest Monday, till the university declares the dates of the senate elections.
“We do not trust the (central) government. Is this the final notification? So we will continue with our protest till the announcement of the senate elections,” declared a set of protesting students of the “Panjab University Bachao Morcha” Friday. On Saturday, the university declared a holiday on November 10 and 11 in view of the student’s decision.
As ThePrint reported earlier, the 28 October notification amended the Panjab University Act, 1947, reducing the university’s top governing body from a 91-member body to 31 members, while abolishing the graduates constituency completely and replacing its elected syndicate with a largely nominated structure. This came almost a year after the senate’s term ended 31 October last year and no move was made to hold fresh elections—a delay many political leaders and faculty members had warned were a precursor to such an overhaul.
Apart from the BJP, all political parties of Punjab had vociferously criticised the move, arguing that it diluted the state’s stake in the university. Prominent leaders had made a beeline for the university where students staged a permanent dharna outside the VC’s office for the past 10 days. Leaders of Punjab’s radical Sikh bodies, farmers’ unions and religious institutions too declared support for the November 10 protest planned by the Panjab University Bachao Morcha.
At the heart of the broadsweep changes brought in was abolition of the graduates constituency that includes senators elected through voting by an electorate that consists of every person who has graduated from Panjab University and is registered as a voter. Other than the graduates constituency the “reforms” included abolition of the faculty constituency that elected senators from among the various faculties of the university.
What political leaders had to say
Senior BJP leader Vineet Joshi told ThePrint that the reforms were carried out because some former vice chancellors of the university had been finding it difficult to take independent decisions. He added, “They found that the syndicate at times did not allow them to function and many decisions had to be kept in abeyance which were otherwise in the interest of the university. It was a purely academic exercise that had nothing to do with the BJP. In fact the move was initiated when Congress was in power in Punjab.”
“However, once these changes were announced, these were attributed to the BJP trying to replace democratically elected senate with nominated persons. An entire narrative was built around it and all political parties joined in the chorus. When we realised that an absolute and needless narrative is being generated among students, we called for a meeting of our core committee in which it was decided that we have to approach the Government of India to get this decision revoked,” Joshi added.
He also said that the state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma was in Delhi for two days to get the earlier notification rescinded. “But somehow the decision after being rescinded was put in abeyance with another notification issued within hours of one another. We have no idea how that happened. Now it has finally been revoked.”
Joshi added that the misgivings about the changes brought in were totally misplaced. “The graduate constituency has lost its value in the system. It only brings in non academics to the senate whose interests lie elsewhere, not the university. But the government of India has bowed before the wishes of the students. It’s their victory.”
Former BJP MP from Chandigarh and long-time senator Satya Pal Jain had defended the original reform as necessary to curb campus factionalism and professionalise governance. Jain, who was also a member of the Administrative Reforms Committee that examined the issue in a recent interview to mediapersons said the reforms were a “necessary correction” to end “politicisation” in the university’s functioning.
He argued that the reformed structure of the senate with 31 members allowed for less subjectivity than the 91-member body. “Earlier, 36 of 91 members were nominated by the Chancellor. Now, out of 31, only 8 are nominated. Sixteen are elected—4 from PU teachers, 4 from college principals and 6 from college lecturers. Among the 7 ex-officio members, 3 are elected public representatives—the CM, education minister and Chandigarh MP. The elected component has gone up, not down,” he was quoted by mediapersons as saying.
Acknowledging the revocation of the changes, Aam Aadmi Party MP Malwinder Singh Kang wrote on X Friday that the rollback by the government was not an act of grace but an admission of guilt. “Panjab University, older than the Republic itself cannot be reduced to a pawn in the BJP’s political experiments. This rollback came only after massive resistance from every punjabi who stood firm for Punjab’s dignity and the University’s legacy.”
The @BJP4India,
,led Central Government’s withdrawal of its order on @OfficialPU is not an act of grace ,it is an admission of guilt.
The attempt to rewrite the University’s Senate and Syndicate was a brazen assault on its autonomy and democratic character. Panjab University,… pic.twitter.com/y3aRoFMZyW
— Malvinder Singh Kang (@kang_malvinder) November 7, 2025
Congress MP Manish Tewari who met Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan Wednesday over the issue said “good sense had finally prevailed”. Akali MP Harsimrat Badal who had visited the protesting students hours before the decision was taken said the people’s will has prevailed.”
SAD general secretary (incharge youth) S. Bikram Singh Majithia congratulated SOI for the spectacular win in Panjab University elections. He said the the youth are the driving force of society and they are now coming together to reject the Congress party. pic.twitter.com/iBQqH19Qk8
— Shiromani Akali Dal (@Akali_Dal_) September 6, 2019
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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