Jalandhar, May 29
The functioning of the Punjab Technical University (PTU) has come under a cloud as the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice of motion to its Vice-Chancellor and others asking them to submit details related to educational qualifications of its Director, Outreach Affairs, who was allegedly appointed to the post by flouting all rules as he did not possess the required qualifications.

Lawyers’ initiative, a high court-based lawyers’ study and discussion group, had filed a writ of quo warranto under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on May 24, stating that Mr A.S. Grewal had been appointed Director, Outreach Affairs, by the PTU authorities in violation of the rules regarding minimum qualifications prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) since he is only an undergraduate.

The writ further states that rules were flouted with impunity by the PTU authorities as no selection committee was constituted which is mandatory according to the rules. Moreover, no advertisement inviting applications from suitable candidates for the selection to the post was given in the newspapers.

“Since the term of the Board of Governors of the university has already expired in the last week of June 2000 and the board has never met after its last meeting on October 10, 1999, Mr Grewal has been appointed to the post without the approval of the board on December 5, 2000. Moreover, there is no such post of Director, Outreach Affairs, in the university,” the writ said.

“Though the PTU authorities constituted a selection committee and published advertisements in the newspapers for appointment of the Registrar and Director (Colleges) as per the rules laid down by the UGC, why the same rules have been violated while appointing Mr Grewal as Director, Outreach Affairs, which is a Class I post,” Mr Rajbinder Bains, secretary of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation, who was contesting the case on behalf of Lawyers’ Initiative, told this correspondent today.

Section 8 (2) of the Punjab Technical University Act, 1996, states, “The mode of appointments, terms and conditions of service and the functions of the officers of the university other than the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar shall be prescribed by regulations in so far as they are not provided herein.”

Interestingly, the university authorities failed to notify such regulations since its formation under the Act.

According to a letter issued by the AICTE on March 15, 2000, the candidate who has a Ph.D degree (with a first class degree at bachelors’ or masters’ level) with 15 years’ experience in teaching or industry or research out of which five years of service are at the level of professor or above in engineering or technology field could be eligible for applying to the post of a Director.