Dept chairperson writes to Dy Registrar for clarification

CHANDIGARH: The ambiguity over introducing a certificate course at the Dayanand Chair for Vedic Studies at Panjab University PU has pushed the centres officiating chairperson Virendra Kumar Alankar to seek clarification from the Deputy Registrar of the PU general branch

Updated At : 01:06 PM Aug 04, 2019 IST

Vedic Study Centre will start at Guru Teg Bahadur Bhawan in Panjab University, Chandigarh. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 3

The ambiguity over introducing a certificate course at the Dayanand Chair for Vedic Studies at Panjab University (PU) has pushed the centre’s officiating chairperson Virendra Kumar Alankar to seek clarification from the Deputy Registrar of the PU general branch.

Following the varsity’s admission notice dated June 24, for the said course, (advertised without any approval of the varsity’s top governing body, the Syndicate), the centre has received over 21 applications, Alankar informed on Saturday.

The persisting confusion comes in view of the Syndicate’s half-baked stance over the course’s approval in its meeting convened on July 30. While some members said the course has been approved, others claimed it was not. Also, an official press document released by the varsity too stated that the course’s approval by the Syndicate.

“I had sent the proposal for the said course in February. I have no idea what took so long for it to reach the Syndicate in July end. The one-year course with two semesters aims to teach vedic philosophy, vedic culture and aakhyaan (mythological tales). In fact, we have received 21 applications for 20 seats in this new course,” said Alankar.

He, however, reserved his comments on the admission notice published on the PU website, seeking applications for the course. “I have written to the Deputy Registrar of the varsity’s general branch to seek clarification on the course’s status,” he added.

“Without any approval of the varsity’s governing bodies, one cannot advertise or publish a course. We had not studied this agenda item properly and the PU V-C was not able to explain it either. One of the syndics said it should be taken up later and no one objected to it. So, we will be taking it up in the next Syndicate meeting,” said the syndic and fellow Prof Navdeep Goyal, who is also the chairperson of the Physics Department.

Commenting on the reason why the admission notice of the course was published without the Syndicate’s approval the PU Registrar, Prof Karamjeet Singh, shared, “As per procedure, a course is approved by the Board of Studies and then sent to the faculty concerned (in this case, Faculty of Languages), then it goes to Syndicate. The faculty meeting takes place only twice a year. So, on behalf of the faculty, the dean of the faculty concerned can approve the course.”

“Under normal circumstances, the dean’s decision is implemented in anticipation of approval of the Syndicate. So, technically, this course was approved. Also, the Syndicate meeting took place late this time. So, it was also marked to the Syndicate. While some people were in its favour others weren’t. It was deferred and will be taken up in the next Syndicate meeting,” he added.

Background

The Faculty of Languages resolved in a meeting on March 30 that it was in favour of starting a certificate course in Vedic Studies at the varsity’s Dayanand Chair for Vedic Studies. The Board of Control in its meeting on February 25 had suggested that students should be exempted from paying the tuition fee as in the case of students at the Department of Sanskrit. The total fee of the course has been pegged at Rs 4,720. The charges/fee is subject to vary every year or as fixed by the university authorities from time to time. “The fee will be the same as for certificate courses of other departments,” reads the recommendation of the Board of Control.