Ludhiana: Last-minute shuffling of officials, PAU board meeting deferred again

Due to the eleventh hour shuffling of officials, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) board meeting, which was scheduled to take place on Tuesday after being postponed four times, was postponed yet again. Earlier, the meeting was supposed to take place on Monday but later postponed to Tuesday at the last moment.

A board member, on condition of anonymity, said that they were informed about the postponement last night because the administrative secretary (agriculture) was changed and now a new officer will give them a new date.

Punjab Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (PAUTA) president, Mandeep Singh Gill said that postponing the meeting repeatedly has set a bad precedent and the delay is affecting the work at the university. “This is a bad precedence. Rules stipulate a meeting every two months and important decisions pertaining to the running of the university are to be taken in this meeting,” he said. He added that the government and university administration should ensure the meetings happen on time and regularly.

PAU’s last board meeting was held in July last year. According to Gill it was the first time that the meeting was not done in such a long interval.

All the decisions to be taken in this meeting include the appointment of deans for various colleges of the university which are being run by deans of other colleges from past many months on additional charges.

This time the meeting was also important as the financial year was about to end and the new budget for the university had to be passed before the onset of the new financial year, said Gill.

After the meeting wasn’t called for around four months, on December 23, 2024, the meeting was notified for January 3 but was postponed. On January 10, it was again called on January 15 and yet postponed. On January 13 it was again postponed to January 23. And, on January 23, all the board members from the university, including the vice-chancellor – the board chairman - and the registrar, had reached the meeting venue on time only to find that it was postponed again, said a PAUTA official on condition of anonymity.

PAU vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal attributed the postponement to the additional chief secretary’s busy schedule, who represents the government in the board. The board includes 13 members. V-C as the chairman, registrar as the secretary, chief secretary to Punjab government, administrative secretary department of agriculture and farmers welfare, principal secretary department of finance, director of agriculture & farmers welfare, director ICAR-central institute of post-harvest engineering and technology (CIPHET), two agricultural scientists, three progressive farmers, and the PAUTA president, director of horticulture, and V-C of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University as special invitees.