Announcing the date for the Senate elections to elect 15 Ordinary Fellows from the Constituency of Registered Graduates on September 20, Panjab University (PU) on Monday notified that the last date for receipt of applications for fresh enrolment as a Registered Graduate is February 23.
“Applications for enrolment as a Registered Graduate, along with the prescribed composite fee of Rs 15, must reach the Registrar by the notified date,” the university authorities said in the notification.
The announcement came two months after students agitated against the Union government’s overhauling the governance structure of the university through a notification issued on October 28, “converting the elected Syndicate into a completely nominated body and reducing the strength of its Senate”, forcing the Union Ministry of Education to withdraw its notification on November 7.
On November 9, Punjab University authorities had initiated the process for Senate elections under the previous mode of Senate and submitted the detailed schedule for the forthcoming Senate elections to the Chancellor and Vice-President of India for approval.
To become eligible to be a voter, the notification reads, registered graduate defaulters have to clear their outstanding dues by February 23. The list of defaulters of old registered graduates will soon be available on the Panjab University website and with the Assistant Registrar, Election Cell, PU.
The supplementary register of graduates will be notified on March 24.
The last date for receipt of intimation about change of address is April 23, while claims and objections may be submitted up to June 22. July 2 has been fixed as the date for scrutiny of claims and objections by the Registrar. July 3 has been fixed as the date of the meeting of the committee to consider objections raised to the Registrar’s decision. The final register of graduates will be published on July 27, the notification reads.
Only persons domiciled in India are eligible for enrolment.
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As per the eligibility criteria, graduates of Panjab University with a minimum standing of five years, counted from the year of passing the degree examination, i.e. up to 2021 graduates, are eligible for enrolment. Candidates holding a Master’s or Doctoral degree from Panjab University are also eligible, it says.
Controversy over Senate and Syndicate
Various student organisations of Panjab University came together under the banner of ‘Panjab University Bachao Morcha’ and were joined by farm leaders from across Punjab, including ones associated with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Bhartiya Kisan Union, as a mark of solidarity to protest against the dissolution of the Senate elections. The protest later turned into an indefinite sit-in outside the VC Office, demanding the restoration of the 91-member Senate.
With the issue snowballing into a political controversy, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accusing the BJP of launching “another assault on Punjab’s autonomy”, and the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) labelling it “a direct attack on federalism” and the “erosion of 143 years of legacy”, the BJP was taken aback given that this came just months after the ABVP, the RSS’s student wing, registered its first win in the university students’ union polls in five decades.
The protesters stood on a common ground, against the undemocratic move of the Centre, and demanded a rollback of the move, notified under the Panjab University Act, 1947, marking a drastic shift from political representation to administrative and academic control.
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The Centre buckled under pressure and withdrew the notification, but the move did not come without its share of drama. On November 5, minutes after announcing the withdrawal, the Centre issued another notification stating that the earlier one was being put on hold and would be implemented at a later stage. It finally withdrew the notification on November 7 after protests began to escalate on the campus.
On November 13 The Chandigarh Police registered an FIR against unidentified students and outsiders for allegedly attacking police personnel and violating prohibitory orders while forcing their way into the PU campus by breaking and scaling Gate No. 1 on November 10.
