PU V-C faces flak as senators say incomplete agenda was circulated

The PU senate may have cleared the introduction of the semester system in PU and affiliated colleges on Monday, but not before heavily criticising vice-chancellor AK Grover for not listing the topic in the agenda sent to senators.

Heated debates that lasted for an hour saw senators argue that they should have been intimated about a discussion on an item of such importance and demand that the matter be deferred.

University School of Open Learning’s (USOL) request to be exempted from introducing the system also came under severe criticism, with senators contending that it would affect the student strength in colleges as students would shift to the open learning programme.

The members only calmed down after Grover said that was an important issue and accepted university’s mistake.

USOL chairman Lalit Bansal, in an attempt to convince the senate to defer the introduction of the system for the department, stated that it was not ready to complete the process in such a short span of time.
“We have to do translations and decide about the syllabus. It is not practical,” he said, after which he was reprimanded.

Another senator, Jagwant Singh, stated that the system must be introduced in all PU-affiliated departments and colleges, including USOL, simultaneously.

Agreeing with him, senator Yograj Angrish submitted that there should be unifor mity and USOL cannot have a different system of conducting examinations.

Contending that the system was being introduced in a rush, senator Keshav Malhotra said that neither PU-affiliated colleges nor USOL was prepared to introduce the new system.

Arguing against the introduction of the system, senator IS Sandhu cited staff crunch in various PU-affiliated colleges. He said that while PU had agreed to introduce the system only after the Punjab government filled up the vacancies, there was no word from the latter in this regard.

Senate cleared the proposal after Grover assured them that infrastructure and other issues, both in USOL as well as university’s examination branch, would be looked into and all possible help would be rendered for the smooth introduction of the system.

COMMERCE STREAM SEES 20% HIKE IN FEES

The Panjab University on Sunday hiked the fees for aided courses such as BA, MA, BSc and MSc by 5% and BCom and MCom by 20%.

The senate, in its meet, brought down the hike from the proposed to 5% for the courses such as BA, MA, BSc and MSC conducted by colleges affiliated to the university in Punjab and Chandigarh. However, accepting the university’s recommendation, it increased the fees for BCom and MCom by nearly
` 3,000. Officials said that the university had previously increased its fees in 2007-08.

Opposing the hike and questioning the committee constituted by the vice-chancellor Arun Kumar Grover, Naresh Gaur, a senator, alle ged that 80% of its members were from private colleges. He was supported by another senator Varinder Singh.

Also opposing the hike, Raghubir Dayal stated that it could have been justified if teachers in various were adequately paid. “But that is not the case. So, the fee hike will only burden the students,” he said.

OTHER DECISIONS

The senate cleared the template for the recruitment of associate professors and professors as VC was authorised to carry out minor changes. The same was to be put before the chairpersons in the meeting.
On the proposal of PU fellow Satya Pal Jain, the senate congratulated prime minister designate Narendra Modi for his victory in the Lok Sabha general elections and PU alumni Sushma Swaraj, Kirron Kher and Rajiv Pratap Rudy for their election as members of parliament in Lok Sabha.

PU Senate also accepted the recommendation of the committee regarding the appointment of guest faculty in which case the varsity de par tments are allowed to appoint three guest faculty members. However, in the case of colleges, the proposal did not reach any consensus. The maximum amount paid would be Rs 25,000 per month.

Those students who fail to get 33 percent lectures will not be allowed to sit in examinations.
Senate allowed department of laws to re place LLM two year course with LLM one year course.