Chandigarh: The Khalsa University in Amritsar was initially set up in 2016, during the tenure of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Parkash Singh Badal, and came undone when the Congress came to power in 2017 under Captain Amarinder Singh.
Last week the Supreme Court struck down the 2017 law that set aside creation of the university, deeming it “unconstitutional” and paving the way for a private university on the campus that houses the century-old Khalsa College.
While setting aside the act, a division bench of the Supreme Court, led by justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan, said the Khalsa University had been singled out and discriminated against even as the state government had given the nod for the creation of 16 other private universities in Punjab.
The bench ruled that the 2017 Act, “which was enacted with a purpose which was non-existent, would fall under the ambit of manifest arbitrariness and would therefore be violative of Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution”.
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Law passed, then repealed
The judgment come after years of back and forth that began in 2010.
The idea was first pitched by Khalsa College Management Committee in 2010 when the Punjab government brought in a legislation that allowed the setting up of private universities in the state.
It was aimed at freeing the Khalsa College and others run by Khalsa College Management Committee from the control of the government-run Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) to which these colleges were affiliated and set up an autonomous private university.
For the next five years, the management committee made arrangements to meet the requirements to set up the university.
Several Congress leaders, led by Amarinder Singh, had opposed the move on the grounds that the creation of a private university would ruin the heritage status of Khalsa College. In February 2016, Amarinder, then the Amritsar MP, made a sudden visit to the college and declared that he would not allow a private university to come up.
However, despite the vociferous opposition, Khalsa University was set up in 2016 after the Punjab Assembly passed the Khalsa University Act when the Akalis-BJP were in power.
When Congress came to power in March 2017 and Amarinder became the chief minister, his cabinet cleared the passing of an ordinance repealing the act in April. It was passed in the assembly in November 2017 and received the governor’s assent the same day.
Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, honorary secretary of the Khalsa College Management Committee, told ThePrint Tuesday that more than 150 students who had been admitted to various postgraduate courses in the university suffered because of this political tussle and had to be adjusted at other colleges in the state.
“Unlike other colleges in Punjab, the Khalsa College campus, Amritsar, was never designed to be only a college, it had always strived to be a university. Apart from being autonomous, Khalsa University wanted to offer the latest job-oriented courses to students, imparting the highest quality of education possible,” said Chhina.
According to Chhina, the Khalsa College was created in 1892 after prominent Sikh families contributed vast tracts of land—over 700 acres—and funded its creation.
The British, when Banaras Hindu University was created in the early twentieth century, proposed creation of Khalsa University on this land. They offered to make the announcement during an upcoming visit of the Prince of Wales, but, because nationalism was at its peak, students and prominent leaders opposed it.
Then, in 1969, the GNDU was founded to commemorate the quincentenary of the birth of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
“In fact, the 330 acres of land on which the GNDU is built was given by the Khalsa College,” added Chhina. “When Punjab government allowed creation of private universities in 2010, we proposed our college campus, which already included professional colleges like colleges of veterinary sciences, college of education etc., be turned into a private university.”
Overshadowing legacy of GNDU?
Senior Congress leader and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who had pushed for the move to repeal the act, told ThePrint Monday that he did not want to comment on the Supreme Court judgment.
“The whole idea behind the move of our government to undo the University Act was to ensure that the legacy of the Guru Nanak Dev University is not overshadowed in any manner. And secondly, the heritage of the Khalsa College is not compromised with. Where is the need for two universities in a single city and that too when one university is doing such a wonderful job of imparting high-quality education?”
According to Randhawa, the Guru Nanak Dev University was set up “in the name of our first Guru” and establishing a parallel university would impact the prestige of the GNDU, which is what he and other Congress leaders were opposed to.
“In fact, when Captain Amarinder became chief minister and came to power he did not want to follow up with the promise he had made before elections that he would undo the university move. I along with some other MLA’s had to force him to bring in an ordinance and then get it passed in the assembly,” he said.
‘Move to control resources’
Sikh history and culture expert Sarchand Singh, who is also spokesperson of the Punjab BJP told ThePrint that the wrangling over the Khalsa College was not just about enhancing the quality of education or retaining the heritage of the Khalsa College.
“It was largely political. The move to set up a Khalsa University was the result of the control of a single group in the university management. This group gained power when the Akali Dal was ruling Punjab from 2012 to 2017. This group wanted to have complete control over the resources of this campus. Hence the move to set up a private university free from the control of the government,” said Sarchand Singh.
The Khalsa College Management Committee, he explained, is headed by Satyajit Majithia, the father of Akali leaders Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia.
Harsimrat is also the daughter-in-law of the late former CM Parkash Singh Badal and Bikram was in his cabinet, while Chhina was the BJP vice president and the party candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll in 2017. Satyajit Majithia and Chhina have been the president and honorary secretary of the management committee, respectively, since 2004
“Some Congress leaders did not want the Majithias to be empowered further by gaining complete control over the vast resources of the Khalsa College and its campus spread over 400 acres. They saw the creation of the university as the government losing control of the college. Hence the objection,” said Sarchand Singh.
However, Chhina denied that the management of the university was controlled by a single group.
“Governing body of the university is a huge collection of prominent people who elect members to the management committee every five years. Management committee then elects its office bearers. Some have continued for many years because the governing body has found them to be functioning satisfactorily and do not feel the need to change them.”
Akali leaders claim that the entire exercise to repeal the creation of the university was the result of political vendetta.
“It was a purely political move aimed at undoing something a previous government had done just to prove a political point,” senior Akali leader and former cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia told ThePrint Monday. “Prominent families of Amritsar and Punjab have contributed to creation of the Khalsa College, including my grandfather. It is a common heritage of this state.”
Majithia also questioned opposition to the creation of another university when there is a “huge dearth of higher education facilities in India and the number of universities is far less than what it should be”.
“There is only one university—Guru Nanak Dev University—catering to the entire Majha belt of Punjab. From Tarn Taran on one side to Pathankot on the other, students of this region have no other option apart from GNDU. Students of this region need the best education to build their careers and get jobs. If another university comes up in this region, why should it be looked upon as a move towards the reduction in the glory of the GNDU?” he asked.
He also questioned how private universities with less than 10 acres of land had been granted the status of university during Congress rule but the move to set up Khalsa University was set aside. This is when already almost 20,000 to 30,000 students are studying in the Khalsa University College and other colleges on the campus.
“Whatever might be our political differences, education should never be politicised,” added Majithia.
Continued affiliation to GNDU, balanced judgment
Sarchand Singh pointed out that while the Supreme Court judgment allowed the creation of Khalsa University, it would continue to be affiliated with GNDU.
“In that sense, the judgment is extremely balanced because it takes into consideration the original criticism of the creation of the Khalsa University that it would compromise with the heritage and the functioning of the Khalsa College.”
Chhina said that the Khalsa College had a long history of affiliations. In the beginning—when it was created in 1892 and classes began in 1897—the college was affiliated with Calcutta University, which was the only university running at that time in British India.
Later, it was affiliated with the Punjab University, Lahore, and, after Partition, it was affiliated with Punjab University, Chandigarh. And, in 1969, with the establishment of GNDU, the college’s affiliation was shifted to GNDU.
“Even after the creation of Khalsa University, Khalsa College would continue to be affiliated with GNDU and Khalsa University would come up on the campus, excluding the Khalsa College. We want to run better courses, we want to start courses that are in tune with modern job requirements, and we want to build lives and careers,” added Chhina.
Former cabinet minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader from Majha, Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, told ThePrint that educational institutions should be kept out of politics.
“Successive generations should continue to appreciate the purpose and intent for which an institution with a long history was originally created,” he said.
The purpose in this case was to impart high-quality education to the students of the area. However, he said, the people who manage these institutions tend to forget the original intention and the needs of the institution become secondary to them.
“We have had multiple instances where institutions built only for the purpose of education have been lent political colours. That should never happen,” added Dr Nijjar.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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