PEC alumni body to not organise reunion for the first time since 1965

Punjab Engineering College’s (PEC’s) alumni meet will not be hosted by Panjab Engineering College Old Student Association (PECOSA) for the first time since the college shifted to its Chandigarh campus due to internal disputes.

In a Facebook post, director Dheeraj Sanghi said, “The annual alumni meet of Punjab Engineering College will be held on February 15 as scheduled. Due to some legal issues, PECOSA, which is an association of PEC alums, may not be in a position to organise it. I wish to inform all alums who were looking forward to the event as much as I was that the event will go on. If PECOSA cannot host it, PEC will host it, same day, same place.” This year, the director with dean alumni relations Divya Bansal will host the meet for the first time.

Since 1965, PECOSA organised the alumni meet annually. However, on January 4, 2020, the Chandigarh district court while upholding lower court’s November 2019 order, declared the elections of the executive council of PECOSA for the year 2018-2020 null and void and had ordered to hold fresh elections as soon as possible. The meeting of PECOSA’s executive council in this regard is being called on
January 25.

Current PECOSA president KK Vohra said, “PECOSA made all attempts to conduct elections for the executive committee for the term 2018-20 in a free and fair manner. Unfortunately, two losing candidates Mohit Shrivastava and Ravi Kant went to the court to challenge the elections. The court has declared the elections null and void and directed the outgoing executive committee to hold fresh elections as per the memorandum and articles of the association.”

Mohit Shrivastava who filed the case against the PECOSA in Chandigarh district court said, “The case was filed much before the elections were held. Most alumni members feel disenfranchised and want electronic voting. They intentionally never sent proper election notices.”

There are over 20,000 alumni of PEC. The Institute in it’s 98th year have produced nearly 98 batches so far.

“The meet is very important for the institution as alumni serve as the best ambassadors of the college. Through such meetings, they are emotionally connected with the campus. The college alumni have at times helped the institute financially in terms of scholarships, placements and internships for students, ” Sanghi said