The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, May 31, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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4 dept heads oppose VC’s move
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 30
Four members of the Board of Post- Graduate Studies and Research (BPSAR) in the Faculty of Languages today recorded their dissent on a resolution moved by the Vice-Chancellor authorising him to take any action, including disqualifying Higher Education Minister Master Mohan Lal from registering himself for PhD in the institution in future.

Four members, including Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) President Dr Bhupinder Singh Khaira, Head, Department of English, Prof Ravinder Kaur, Head Department of Sanskrit, Dr Ravinder Kaur, and Head , Department of Linguistics Dr Joga Singh, recorded their dissent to the proposal of authorising the Vice- Chancellor to take action against the minister, saying the board could not delegate its powers to any person, including the VC.

The dissenting members also tried to take the VC to task at the meeting held to “note the order of the VC accepting the request of Master Mohan Lal for cancellation of his doctoral registration in the subject of Punjabi as requested by him and allied matters’’ by trying to move a resolution urging that the supervisor of the minister, who is the Vice-Chancellor himself, should be disqualified from taking any more pupils.

According to informed sources, the dissenting members demanded that the entire record of the communication between the minister and the VC, especially the latest communication of the minister asking why the board had cleared him for research if his work was not found authentic, should be presented before it. The sources said the VC, without committing that he would bring the communication before the board, asked that he be given powers to decide on the matter.

The dissenting members said an emergency meeting of the BPSAR was called this morning. The members were informed about the meeting on the phone, as there was no prior notice. Several members were not invited to the meeting. They claimed that out of the six professor-members present at the meeting, four opposed the resolution and recorded their dissent. They also claimed that when one of the members tried to move a resolution against the supervisor of the minister, the VC hastily ended the proceedings and left the meeting in a huff.

The members, talking to TNS said the VC had misguided the board while stating that the synopsis was original at a meeting held to consider the registration of the minister for PhD. They said in such a situation, the VC, who was also the supervisor of the minister, was responsible if the synopsis was found to be ghost-written. The members said they commanded a majority in the board and would at its next meeting move a resolution as to what action should be taken against the supervisor of the minister.

The Vice-Chancellor, when contacted, said he did not want to comment on an “internal matter” of the university. However, he was hopeful that the issue would be settled amicably within 10 days or so. Questioned about the show- cause notices served on eminent economist Dr Suchha Singh Gill and Dr U. C. Singh, he insinuated that it was the committee which had taken the decision and if the matter had been discussed with him, he would have advocated a more lenient view.

Similarly, the VC said he had not termed the synopsis submitted by the minister as “ghost-written and that he had proceeded in the case following receipt of a complaint”. He also claimed there was nothing to debar him from taking a pupil for PhD as claimed by his critics.

However, asked whether these orders were only to buttress his claim quipped: “Show me an order to the contrary”.

Questioned on the speed with which decisions had been taken against his rivals, particularly the manner in which the elected Teachers Association of the University was derecognised and a new group given recognition within hours of an “election”, he said: “You must appreciate my promptness”.