M A I N   N E W S

Capt trying to communalise education: NCM
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7
The Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities(NCM),  Mr Tarlochan Singh, has taken exception to the Capt Amarinder Singh government in Punjab trying to communalise the education system in the state and undermine the high office of the Vice-President of India.

Mr Tarlochan Singh told The Tribune that Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as the Chancellor of Panjab University had acted in a transparent manner.

Chancellors do not have to seek directions from state governments or anyone else. The proposals of the Punjab Government for nomination to the Panjab University Senate had been received late after the list had been finalised. A communication in this regard had been despatched to the Punjab Government.

Mr Tarlochan Singh insisted that it was wrong to attribute motives and that the Punjab Government was seeking to infuse a communal tinge to the prestigious Panjab University, which had remained free from such aberrations.

He said the Panjab University Senate was an independent body which oversaw the functioning of Panjab University.

Meanwhile, PPCC Vice-President M. M. Singh Cheema appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that necessary amendments should be made to the Punjab University Act of August 30, 1967, whereby the Governor of Punjab becomes the Chancellor of Panjab University in Chandigarh. The Punjab Governor is also the Administrator of the Union Territory.

Mr Cheema is on the Senate of Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar and not on the Senate of Panjab University. He has been elected to the Finance Committee of Guru Nanak Dev University for a two-year term from 2004-2006.