CHANDIGARH- April 29, 2010: The Syndicate of Panjab University at its meeting held this evening felicitated Prof. R.C. Sobti, Vice-Chancellor on his nomination as Member of the Senate, IIT Ropar and his nomination by the Governor of Haryana on the Court of Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak.
Also felicitated were Dr. R.P. Asija, Former Fellow and Principal of M.D. College of Education, Abohar; Dr. Rajeev K. Puri, Dept. of Physics, P.U.; Dr. K.N. Pathak, former Vice-Chancellor, P.U.; Dr. Rajinder Bhandari, Fellow, Dr. Suresh Tandon, former Fellow; and Mrs. Madanjit Kaur Sahota, former Fellow for their outstanding achievements and contributions.
The Vice-Chancellor also informed the House that the Secretary, D.S.T. has approved P.U.’s Proposal for Equipment Purchase worth Rs.1.10 crore and the Dept. of Mathematics, P.U. has received a grant of Rs.1 crore under Centre for Advanced Study Programme for a further period of five years.
The members of the Syndicate approved the report on Violence submitted by the Committee under the Chairpersonship of Sh. G.K. Chatrath. While presenting the highlights of the report, Shri Chatrath complimented the P.U. authorities – the Vice-Chancellor, Dean Student Welfare and other concerned University officials for effectively controlling the incidence of violence during the last four years. In its report, the Committee reinforced the urgent need to enforce the existing University rules and regulations and the decisions of the Syndicate and the Senate by all the Chairpersons of the various departments with regard to the academic and administrative matters of the University. The Identity Cards of the students should be checked at all the gates of the University and the gates should be reconstructed so that there are no traffic jams on the main roads and the checking of the incoming vehicles/visitors will be facilitated. It was recommended that the various functions/fairs of the University should not be held simultaneously on the same day. The members of the Syndicate emphatically held that the Office of the Director Public Relations, Panjab University should be considerably strengthened in order to systematically and strategically engage the media and the exchange of information.
The Vice-Chancellor also announced that from now onwards University and College teachers will be designated as Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors. The Curators who are promoted as Readers (Associate Professors) will continue to work as Curators but a Curator will not be designated as Reader-cum-Curator.
It was also approved that suggestions for changes/improvements in the Formula for the selection of Assistant Professors in University should be sent to Dr. Karamjit Singh of U.B.S.
The revised rates of University Guest Houses were approved as recommended by the duly constituted Committee.
In an important decision, the Syndicate also approved the reservation of 2% of seats in all courses in respect of persons killed as a result of terrorist violence, children of families of Sikh migrants or 100% disabled.
The Vice-Chancellor also announced that from now onwards all the posts (including contract, guest faculty and temporary positions) will be pooled together and the interviews will be organized centrally having the Departmental representatives on the selection board also so as to streamline the process of appointments.
Prof. R.C. Sobti, the Vice-Chancellor also informed the House that the Punjab Government in collaboration with Panjab University, Chandigarh is going to start a Govt. Constituent College at Balachaur for which the Punjab Govt. will allocate the necessary funds separately. The Govt. College at Balachaur will function as a Constituent College of Panjab University- under the full Administrative Control of the University and the same was approved.
The Syndicate also constituted a Committee comprising Principal Janmit Singh and Dr. Karamjit Singh of U.B.S. to submit a detailed report of the case involving Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Centre Superintendent, Dev Samaj College for Women, Ferozepur City.
The Vice-Chancellor also stated that no private educational institute will be allowed to sponsor any University function or event hereafter nor any poster/publicity material of any private institution will be allowed to be used in P.U. Campus. The violators will be penalized. Taking serious note of the dubious advertisements being published in certain newspapers, the Syndicate decided to initiate the stern action against such practices.
The Vice-Chancellor also announced a grant of Rs.2 lac for the up-gradation and infrastructural development of the office of the Director Public Relations in order to enable and empower it to meet the new challenges in the present context. The Vice-Chancellor also stated that all the University officials including Chairpersons/Coordinators/Other University officials will have to send their press notes to the media only through the Office of the Director Public Relations. No individual employee will send the Press Note/Release to the press on his or her own. The Chairpersons of the Departments will be required to send their versions regarding different developments to the Director Public Relations who will, thereafter, supply the relevant information to the media. The Chairpersons/Coordinators/Directors of different departments will be regularly submitting their schedule of activities/events to the office of the Director Public Relations for its onward transmission to the media. The same was approved.
The Committee under the Chairpersonship of Shri Ashok Goyal was also constituted for rationalization of teaching and non-teaching posts at University. Shri Ashok Goyal was also entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that all the temporary/contractual faculty employed at P.U. get the salary in accordance with the latest U.G.C. grades.