Chandigarh: In a rare show of solidarity, political parties in Punjab, barring the BJP, have come together to protest against the unexplained delay in the conduct of elections to the senate of Panjab University, Chandigarh.
The senate is a 91-member apex governing body of the university and the term of its members ended on 31 October. But fresh elections have not been announced by the university, sparking speculation that the “democratically elected” senate is likely to be replaced by a handpicked Board of Governors by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Punjab’s top political leaders are protesting against what they consider is a bid of the Centre to “saffronise” Panjab University (PU). The university authorities, on the other hand, have held that they have forwarded a tentative schedule for holding the elections four times to the office of the Vice-President of India, who is the ex-officio chancellor of the university, for approval, but a reply is awaited.
On Thursday, senior leaders of the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) jointly protested against the delay in conduct of elections, addressing the media together following the protest.
Joining a group of students who have been protesting outside the PU vice-chancellor’s office over the matter for the past three weeks, senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa and SAD general secretary Dr Daljit Singh Cheema alleged that the BJP was in connivance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in power in the state, and trying to “usurp” the university’s independence.
Earlier, AAP leaders, including Punjab MP from Anandpur Sahib Malvinder Singh Kang, and Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains, had demanded immediate announcement of elections for the PU senate.
AAP MP from Sangrur, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, also wrote to Vice President and PU Chancellor Jagdeep Dhankhar Friday, warning against the “centralisation” of the university.
The same day, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari met Dhankhar over the matter and Friday sat in protest outside the PU vice-chancellor’s office.
ThePrint explains why the delay in PU senate elections has triggered a storm of protest in Punjab and why the possible abolition of the senate will change the fundamental structure of the 142-year old university.
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Inter-state body, not a central university
Panjab University is one of the oldest universities in India and was established in 1882 at Lahore in undivided India. When India was partitioned during Independence, the university was also partitioned and two universities have continued to exist till date, one in Pakistan and another in India.
Following partition, the university was “established” and “incorporated” once again under the Panjab University Act passed in 1947 by the East Punjab legislature. The Punjab University Act is the governing statute of the university.
PU functioned as a state university with affiliated colleges spread across the then joint Punjab region which included the current states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Its centre moved from Shimla to Rohtak to Jalandhar before it finally got its own campus in the newly created city of Chandigarh.
In 1966, when joint Punjab was reorganised into the separate states of Punjab and Haryana (Himachal Pradesh had already been carved out as a union territory in 1956), PU became an “inter- state body corporate” under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, passed by Parliament.
“The university was established by a state Act but is now covered by a central legislation. Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act changed the university’s character from that of a state university to an inter-state university. Thus, any power exercisable under the Panjab University Act 1947 is exercised by the central government and not the state government. The expression ‘government’ under the Panjab University Act is defined to mean the central government and not the state government,” said senior advocate Anupam Gupta, speaking to ThePrint.
However, even though the university came to be controlled by the Centre, Punjab continues to hold a major stake. As an inter-state body corporate, PU does not have the status of a full-fledged central university.
Unlike central universities, where the President of India is the ex-officio “Visitor”, in the case of Panjab University, the Vice President, who is the chairman of the Rajya Sabha (the council of states), is the ex-officio chancellor.
The funding of PU too is shared between the Centre and Punjab. The university has 202 affiliated and six constituent colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh, besides four Regional Centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Kauni. In addition, there is an Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies at Hoshiarpur.
But most significantly, the university’s apex governing body, the senate, has a significant number of members from Punjab. The Punjab chief minister, along with the education minister, two MLAs and the director of public instruction, are members of the senate. Many of the elected senators too are from Punjab colleges.
Any change in the composition of the senate or the reduction of its numerical strength threatens to dilute Punjab’s stake in the university, an apprehension which is at the core of the current protest by the state’s politicians.
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Composition of Panjab University senate
The university has three centres of power and patronage. It is run by a vice-chancellor (V-C) appointed by the chancellor. The V-C is accountable to the senate, which is a collective of 91 members called “fellows”, 47 of whom are democratically-elected.
A 15-member syndicate elected from among the senators is the bridge between the senate and the V-C. This syndicate is headed by the V-C and has the directors of public instruction of Punjab and Chandigarh as additional members.
The Panjab University Act, 1947, defines the senate as the “supreme authority of the university”. It has the “entire management of, and superintendence over the affairs, concerns and properties of the university”. The syndicate is defined as the “executive government of the university”. The VC is the “principal executive and academic officer” of the university.
The senate is the final decision-making body of PU. It has four categories of fellows. Half a dozen are ex-officio fellows, including the CM, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the education minister of Punjab, the advisor to the administrator of Chandigarh and the directors of public instructions of Punjab and Chandigarh.
Three dozen fellows are nominated by the chancellor. Two are chosen from Punjab MLAs. As many as 47 are fellows who are elected through “constituencies” comprising PU graduates, teaching staff at the university campus, and principals, professors and lecturers of affiliated colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.
Of the 47 elected members, as many as 15 fellows are elected by the graduates of the university registered as senate voters. The electorate for these polls includes all those who have graduated from PU. The electorate runs into lakhs with fresh graduates added each year to the voters’ list which is revised every four years ahead of senate elections.
The elections are an elaborate affair with polling booths spread across northern India in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Booths are set up based on the number of voters. In previous elections, the highest number of booths have always been in Punjab, leading to Punjab candidates winning the majority of the 15 registered graduates’ seats in the senate.
Of the remaining 32 elected members, four are elected from among professors, readers and lecturers in teaching departments of PU. Six fellows are elected from among staff of affiliated technical and professional colleges, including at least two from the union territory of Chandigarh.
Another 16 are elected from among staff of affiliated Arts colleges, including at least two from Chandigarh. Six fellows are elected from various faculties of the university: one each from the arts, languages, science, medical sciences, law and remaining combined faculties.
Elections for the fellows of the senate are subject to the approval of the chancellor. The fellows hold office for four years. There is no bar on re-election of fellows.
Elections for the last term delayed
In 2016, the election process to the senate had been completed by 25 September and the list of senate members notified by the Vice President’s secretariat in October. The member’s term ended on 31 October, 2020.
On 14 November, 2019, the then PU vice-chancellor Prof Raj Kumar approved the dates for fresh elections to the senate, which were slated to begin on 24 August, 2020, and were to end by 20 September, 2020. However, the process was repeatedly postponed for over a year.
While the university authorities claimed that the elections had been indefinitely postponed due to the Covid pandemic, it was widely alleged that the elections were not being held at the behest of the central government.
The university only agreed to hold senate elections after some senators approached the Punjab in Haryana High Court and the court ordered the university to conduct the elections. In his judgement of March 2021, Justice Fateh Deep Singh noted that the university’s attempt to indefinitely postpone the senate elections smacked of “malafide and caprice”.
The university completed the election process by November 2021. The term of the newly elected senate was thus shortened from four to three years, starting November 2021 and ending on 31 October, 2024.
In August this year, some senators approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the restoration of the complete four-year term of the existing PU senate. “The motive of the University is to undermine democratic bodies which govern the university. Not allowing the elected senate to complete its full four year term is a step in that direction,” said Prof Jagwant Singh member of the senate who has move the court talking to ThePrint. “The next date of hearing is December 10,” said advocate Nandita Verma who is representing Singh in court.
In September this year some other senators moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the immediate conduct of senate elections. ” For the conduct of the elections to the senate in 2020 also we had knock the doors of the High Court,” said petitioner in the case, Prof Harpreet Singh Dua who is the member both of the Syndicate and the senate, talking to ThePrint.
Advocate R Kartikey who is representing Dua in the court told ThePrint that the university had shifted the entire responsibility of conducting the elections at the door of the chancellor.
The next of hearing in the case is November 28.
Replying to an earlier representation made by Dua to the university, the assistant registrar of the university said the dates for the senate election 2024 were sent for approval to the chancellor in November 2023 which were approved by the chancellor. However, a fresh schedule had to be sent since elections to the Syndicate were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The fresh schedule to the chancellor was sent on February 29 this year which is yet to be approved. In his letter to Dua copy of which is with ThePrint, the assistant registrar added that four reminders have also been sent in March, April, May and June but the schedule is yet to be approved.
When contracted senior advocate Satyapal Jain who is also the additional solicitor general of India said that he could not comment on the matter because he was representing the university vice chancellor in both the above mentioned cases in the High Court.
Downsizing senate and syndicate
The fresh protest by Punjab’s major political parties highlights the fear that the elected senate may be replaced by a much smaller governing body handpicked by the Centre, and is not without basis.
In February 2021, the then Vice-President and PU chancellor M. Venkaiah Naidu had constituted an 11-member governance reforms committee to suggest changes at PU in view of the National Education Policy 2020.
During the hearing of a legal matter later that year, the university informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court about the constitution of the committee while explaining the need for downsizing the senate and the syndicate.
“As compared to central universities, IITs, IIMs and state-run universities, the size (91 members) and the composition as well as the process of constituting the senate and the syndicate in the PU is far more complex, time-consuming and cost-intensive. Adding to this is the manner in which deans are elected rather than being chosen for academic excellence… if the PU has to achieve its innate potential and grow into a front-ranking university, it is imperative that it should streamline its governance system,” PU informed the court.
“A lean and efficient governance structure is needed. Against this backdrop, it is felt desirable that a high-level committee of experts be constituted to examine various facets of the existing governance structure and recommend the way forward,” it added.
Sending its suggestions to the committee, in May 2021, the Punjab government said the state’s governor should be the chancellor of PU like it is in the case of other universities in Punjab. The Punjab government also demanded more representation from the state from among 36 members nominated to the senate by the chancellor.
In July 2021, the committee submitted its report and recommended downsizing the senate and the syndicate. It said that the 91-member senate be cut down to a 47-member body and the syndicate members be reduced from 15 to 10.
The committee also suggested disaffiliation of the majority of affiliated colleges in Punjab, barring those in areas near Chandigarh.
Suggested changes in PU
The recommendations of the committee sparked protests by student bodies and the university was at pains to explain the changes.
The authorities said that the committee had recommended that the number of nominated members in the senate be reduced from 36 to 18. The university also hinted at the complete abolition of the 15 registered graduates’ seats.
“Such a constituency does not exist in any university in Punjab. The reason for this (recommendation) is that the election process of this constituency is a very complex and cost-intensive exercise. In Panjab University, it involves more than 3.5 lakh voters spread across the five states of Punjab, Haryana Himachal, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and two union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh,” PU said in a press statement.
“Moreover, the concept of having registered graduate constituencies in universities was relevant only till the 1960s when PU was conducting matriculation and intermediate examinations. However, ever since the constitution of Punjab State Education Board, such examinations do not fall in the purview of universities, therefore in the contemporary education system, the concept of registered graduates’ constituency is no more relevant,” it added.
According to the PU authorities, “keeping in view the model of governance structure for the university, it was recommended to have eminent alumni of PU on the governing bodies instead of a registered graduates’ constituency”.
The university clarified that the ex-officio members and other elected members would remain the same.
For the syndicate, the committee suggested that “instead of elected members, these would be appointed on the basis of seniority by rotation so that teachers from PU campus, regional centres, affiliated colleges including principals are given equal opportunity to participate in governance”.
It was also suggested that colleges situated in close proximity to the university may continue to be affiliated to it, while those far away can be affiliated to other universities.
“The governance reforms committee has recommended the re-alignment of territorial jurisdiction of PU in such a way that colleges falling in the immediate vicinity of the PU campus could be affiliated to it. This recommendation has been made only for the convenience and benefit of students and research scholars studying or working in colleges situated in Mohali and Roopnagar. Similarly, students in colleges situated at far-off places (more than 200 to 250 km) away from PU campus may get better services from the university situated in their proximity,” the PU statement added.
Joining the students’ protest against the recommendations, then SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal warned the Centre against the proposed move, saying that it would mean “tinkering with the cultural and regional character” of Panjab University.
“This move would be fraught with serious emotional, religious and political consequences,” Badal said in a press statement, alleging that it was aimed at destroying the democratic and federal character of PU.
Can senate structure be changed?
AAP MP Malvinder Kang, who was president of PU students’ council for two terms and has also been member of the senate two times, joined the protesting students Monday.
He told the media that delay in the conduct of senate elections was “part of a larger move by the Government of India to demolish Panjab University’s democratic structure”.
“Panjab University’s uniqueness lies in a democratic decision-making body, the senate, with elected representative from faculty, registered graduates and other wings coming together. Since the BJP government has come to power (at Centre), it has tried to undermine the independence of education institutions which include JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). Now, the move to bring Panjab University under its complete control has been orchestrated by the BJP. The aim is to replace the senate with hand picked rubber stamps who will do the centre’s bidding,” he alleged.
Manish Tewari told ThePrint that he had discussed the matter with the chancellor. “In any case, if the Government of India has to bring about any change in the composition of the senate or the syndicate, it will have to amend the university Act in Parliament. It would be a major structural change,” said Tewari.
Legal experts, however, disagree. “Panjab University Act can be amended not only by Parliament but by the central government as well under Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. Such amendments are effected by ‘directions’ issued by the central government ‘from time to time’, specifying the ‘exceptions and modifications’ in the 1947 Act which the Centre wishes to carry out,” senior advocate Anupam Gupta said.
“Procedurally, ever since 1966, these directions have been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The ministry has notified several such directions which effectively amend the Panjab University Act without resort to parliamentary legislation. Any such directions are, however, subject to the provisions of any law that may be made by Parliament,” he added.
“Abolition of the senate or its truncation or replacement by a smaller, unelected governing body would be a fundamental, far-reaching structural change at Panjab University. Such a change is beyond the true scope of Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act and ought to be done, if at all, only by Parliament by direct legislation. However, nothing stops the Government of India from bringing about this change by issuing a direction camouflaging it as an ‘exception and modification’ of the Panjab University Act,” Gupta explained.
Advocate R. Kartikey, however, tends to agree with Tewari. “Notifications being issued by the ministry of Home affairs effectively amend the Punjab University act but if the basic governance structure of the university is to be modified, it cannot be done through a notification. The matter will have to be taken up by the Parliament,” said Kartikey talking to ThePrint.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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