CHANDIGARH-May 29, 2011: Syndicate Meet began with the condoling of the sad demise of Mrs. Surinder Kaur Badal ji, respected wife of Sh. Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab on 24.5.2011 wherein homage was paid to the departed soul by observing two minutes silence, all standing.
Before taking up the items on the agenda, the Vice-Chancellor appealed to the Syndics as members of the second highest decision taking body of the University, to participate and contribute in detailed deliberations of every item while at the same time ensuring the sanctity of the decisions taken as being democratically acceptable to all.On the request of the syndics, the item pertaining to the issue of key appointments, namely those of Registrar, Controller of Examinations (COE), Dean (DCDC) and Associate Dean (ADCDC), College Development Council and Director, Public Relations (DPR), was taken up first and discussed at length.
Prof. A.K. Bhandari, currently holding additional charge of Registrar and COE, Prof. Naval Kishore, currently holding additional charge of DCDC and Mr. G.K. Chatrath, whose relative is one of the contenders for the post of Registrar, voluntarily abstained from the discussion as a matter of propriety and left the Syndicate Room during the taking up of the above item.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. R.C. Sobti, placed before the House the qualifications framed by the UGC for the posts of Registrar, COE and Deans received since the last Syndicate meeting along with the legal opinion sought on the matter. The House unanimously resolved that the UGC Notification/Guidelines/Qualifications would be followed in toto and the posts would be re-advertised immediately and filled in a time-bound manner following all legal requirements regarding time to be given for applying et al. Candidates who had already responded to the previous advertisement would not be required to apply again.
A detailed discussion was also held regarding the post of ADCDC. The arguments put forth stated that in view of the changed status of University funding, it is prudent to acknowledge that the UGC does not stipulate any such post nor has any qualifications for the same. Following the tabling of individual opinions, the House resolved that the post of ADCDC be abolished in anticipation of the approval of the Senate and the present incumbent be relieved of the additional charge. The Vice-Chancellor expressed his reservations regarding the same and enjoined the House to study all the concerned files first. He also pointed out that the recommendation of the Syndicate be placed before the Senate for its consideration and ratification as it was in the meeting of the latter that the post was created in the first instance. But since the House was in favour of the abolition of the post, the Vice-Chancellor was bound to respect the decision of the Syndicate as per the norms of democratic functioning.
As the University Syndicate/Senate is empowered to frame the qualifications required of a DPR, the members were of the unanimous view that the following Committee of Syndics be constituted to review the qualifications and make recommendations:
- Shri Gopal Krishan Chatrath
- Dr. Rabinder Nath Sharma
- Dr. Dharinder Kumar Tayal.
Other key decisions were as follows:
- Dr. Ronki Ram, Department of Political Science, was felicitated on his having been invited as Visiting Professor at the Leiden University, The Hague, Netherland, for a period of two years.
- Approved change in The nomenclature of the Department of Environment and Vocational Studies as “Department of Environment Studies”.
- Approved, in principle, introduction of new subject, i.e. Road Safety. The modalities of implementation to be worked out.
- Approved the award of degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) to the following candidates:
1. Mr. Gurnam Chand | 17. Mr. Madhur Mohit |
2. Mr. Cherish Salam Chingamakha | 18. Ms. Komal Rai |
3. Ms. Meenu Sharma | 19. Ms. Mamta Bansal |
4. Mr. Raj Kirpal Singh | 20. Mr. Rajeev Kumar |
5. Ms. Lovleen | 21. Mr. Harish Kumar |
6. Mr. Harvinderjit Singh | 22. Mr. Ishwar Dutt |
7. Ms. Parul Sharma | 23. Ms. Gurleen Ahluwalia |
8. Ms. Neelu Mahajan | 24. Mr. Pawan Kumar |
9. Ms. Gagan Gupta | 25. Ms. Seema Bhatia |
10. Ms. Harsimran Kaur Kehal | 26. Mr. Pargat Singh |
11. Mr. Shiv Kumar | 27. Mr. Naresh Kumar |
12. Mr. Nitesh Goyal | 28. Ms. Nidhi Aggarwal |
13. Mr. Rajan Bhandari | 29. Ms. Aarti Ahuja |
14. Ms. Jasmine Dhaliwal | 30. Mr. Sarwan Singh |
15. Mr. Naveen Kumar | 31. Ms. Sushma Rani |
16. Mr. Sukhjeet Singh | 32. Ms. Mukta Chum |
The meeting ended on a congratulatory note as the Vice-Chancellor informed the House that the UGC had selected both the proposals of Panjab University in the areas of Nanotechnology and Women Studies and designated them as Centres of Potential Excellence. Twelve Universities had sent in their proposals totalling 64 entries out of which the UGC had eventually selected 16. The two concerned departments in the University will now act as nodal centres and will get a grant of Rs. 20 crore each. An additional Rs 5 crore each will be given as the University has NAAC accreditation. The Vice-Chancellor will be going to Delhi shortly to make detailed presentations of both the proposals. Other departments of the University will also participate in the projects in order to promote cross-disciplinary output.