Patiala, April 23
In the first major reversal of a policy decision of ousted Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, the new incumbent has made his intention clear to withdraw affiliation to all Information technology (IT) institutions recognised by the university before the start of the next academic session.

Affiliation had been given to around 15 institutions by Dr Ahluwalia who had defended their existence, even questioning the authority of the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) on the issue and disregarding the views of the Chairman of the UGC.

Vice-Chancellor N.S. Rattan, who is also the Principal Secretary, Higher Education, threw a bomb shell, saying that the favourite project of Dr Ahluwalia — the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Institute of Information and Technology — would also be put under examination as it involved allowing a private party to open an educational institute on the university campus. He said the opening of a similar institute at the Damdama Sahib Regional Centre of the university would also be reviewed.

On the question of withdrawing affiliation to all off-campus institutions, he said most of them were of a dubious nature and some even looked like a “dhaba”. He said in such a situation the grant of affiliation was legally not tenable.

Saying that the Punjab Technical University Act was very clear on the point that all technical courses would be under the purview of Punjab Technical University, he added that the only exception was that any other university could run technical courses within their campuses.

However, sources said the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Institute would not be able to take help of this clause as the university had entered into a collaboration with a private party to set up the institute. They said attempts had been made to project the institute as part of the university by forming a governing council under the presidentship of the Vice-Chancellor in which the private partners were also members.

The institute had been under a cloud ever since the UGC Chairman made a statement during a visit to the university that private parties would not be allowed to run educational institutions but the university authorities had continuously claimed that no illegality had been committed in the setting up of the institution.

The new Vice-Chancellor said it was not appropriate to give affiliations to such ‘’teaching shops’’ as the AICTE had advised the universities of the region against it and also inserted advertisements in this regard.

Meanwhile, Punjabi University Pro Vice-Chancellor, Dr R. N. Pal today recommended the suspension of Head of the Fine Arts  Department, Dr Saroj Rani, and the dismissal of the department's technical assistant Jaspal Singh, both of whom are co-accused along with the ousted Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia in the Saru Rana case.

Sources said the file had been submitted to the new Vice-Chancellor, Mr N. S. Rattan. The VC said he would verify whether the university followed government rules or had its own set of rules on action to be taken against employees who had spent a specific period behind bars.

The sources said Dr Pal had been entrusted with the file of the case by the former VC as he could not take a decision on the matter because he was a co-accused. According to the sources, Dr Pal was insistent that the file could not be put up for approval to the VC also because he was a co-accused in the case.

They said the Pro VC had recommended the dismissal of Jaspal Singh because he was an ad hoc employee and could not be suspended. Earlier, a controversy had arisen when the former VC had extended the ad hoc appointment of Jaspal Singh.