Saturday,
April 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Procedures followed to appoint VC are outdated I am pained by the methods and procedures followed by the previous Punjab Government in appointing Dr
J. S. Ahluwalia as VC. The university began with an eminent scholar and educational administrator, Bhai (Dr) Jodh Singh as VC in September, 1962. I was a Master’s student in the Physics Department when the first session of postgraduate classes began in 1963. Due to some unknown reasons, Dr B.S. Sood was not able to join as the Physics Department’s head in 1963. Bhai Jodh Singh personally approached another eminent scholar Dr H.R. Sarna, who had retired from Panjab University, to serve as the head for a year. Dr B.S. Sood joined in 1964 and the Physics Department flourished under his leadership during the next 20 years. With similar enthusiasm and academic vigour Bhai Jodh Singh appointed eminent scholars such as Dr K.S. Gill (former Planning Commission member) as Professor of economics and Dr Amrik Singh as a Professor of English. Both became VCs themselves. What did the Badal government find in Dr Ahluwalia while choosing him as VC is beyond one’s imagination. I am very pleased to learn that VC Ahluwalia has been removed. I regretfully read the statement “that a sizable number of senior IAS officers in the Punjab Government did not want the removal of Dr Ahluwalia simply because he also belongs to the IAS cadre.” What a shame! Rather than recommending his removal, they support him in spite of all legal and administrative problems Dr Ahluwalia had created over the last one year. |
Concerned citizens of Patiala, including the active members of FEAR, have been informing government functionaries about the misdeeds of Dr Ahluwalia without any reasonable response from responsible government functionaries. What could you expect from a government when the (Primary) Education Minister in the previous government himself had only grade 4 education? What has happened to the conscious and honesty of the elected and appointed representatives of the people? Finally I think our procedures and acts followed to appoint a VC are outdated. For example, think about the Punjab General Clauses Act of 1897, more than 100 years old. I suggest a search committee should be constituted with members from academic, administrative, judiciary, and military backgrounds with an eminent scholar as its chairman. Under the current system too much power is concentrated among a few politicians. Punjabi University should have a board of governors/trustees with members from all areas of expertise and this board should provide the leadership role and work with the VC to ensure the smooth running of the institution. NACHHATTER
S. BRAR, Academic Visitor at the University of Cambridge.
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It is indeed a heart-warming development in today’s politics that someone has launched a campaign against a touchy subject like corruption in high places. This cannot be achieved without political will and grit and determination to take these random acts to a logical conclusion. Mr Sidhu’s case has too many inherent loopholes in it. Given our judicial process and despite the judiciary’s proclaimed offensive to bring the guilty to book as soon as possible, it will take years to see the completion of this case. Then who knows who will be in power? The red-herring has already been thrown in by Jagman Singh. He has brought in Mr Badal’s name as the co-accused. Mr Sidhu will get off the hook after the trial by media. At best, he and his family would face a case under the Income Tax Act. That is all. Mr Amarinder Singh is only deluding himself by making tall claims of fighting corruption in high places. As an ex-Captain, he would appreciate the backing of a well-trained and disciplined force to achieve an objective. And that kind of force he does not have. What he has comprises the group that had aligned itself with Beant Singh & Co and were left out in the cold as the Akali regime moved in. If the cocktail circuit of Chandigarh is to be believed, he is saddled with persons who spent crores on their daughter’s marriage or put all the wine wholesalers to supply free drinks for parties to ensure victory for a Golf Club election. And above all, there have been complaints against officers who bled Punjab white during 11 years of unbridled Governor’s rule under Congress dispensation. Has the new CM checked out their assets before posting them in sensitive positions? Perhaps not. Almost every other officer has sent his children to study abroad even for school and undergraduate studies. The question is: who pays for them? Well, the cocktail circuit says that for most of these 11 years, officers had fine-tuned the bribery system. The files moved only after the grease had reached specified persons and specified accounts in tax havens abroad. So this brings us back to the moot point: this is only a political gimmick and will go on for four years and then another sensational revelation to ensure a victory at the hustings. And everybody will live happily ever after. G.
S. GREWAL, Mohali |
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