Delay in holding Senate polls bodes ill for PU

ON October 31, 2024, the term of the Senate, the governing body of Panjab University (PU), which has a legacy of 132 years, came to an end without much ado. The Senate is the apex body that has superintendence over the affairs, concerns and property of the university.

At present, the university is running sans any governance framework, without a Syndicate — the executive arm of the Senate — and there are no deans. It seems that nobody — the stakeholders, former university fellows, faculty, students and public — has any inkling about the fate of this unique and inclusive governance structure, which has been a matter of pride for the region’s informed citizenry.

A delay in the election process has been witnessed only once earlier: in 2020. The compelling constraint of the pandemic was a good enough reason for that delay. Then, the constitution of the Senate was completed by October 2021 and it ran for its shrunk tenure of three years: from 2021 to 2024. A plea to extend the tenure by one year and not to count it from the point of time when it didn’t exist (2020) was made in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but no interim relief was granted.

This year, though, the normal process of declaring the polls 240 days before the election day (of the graduate constituency), i.e. in February 2024, was given the go-by. The period has been allowed to elapse without giving any valid reason or putting in place any alternative. Notably, no hullaballoo was raised for this unreasonable departure from practice and if it is being done now, it is too little, too late.

The PU Senate has 91 members, including 36 fellows nominated by the Chancellor (Vice-President of India), two from the Punjab Assembly and six ex-officio members. The remaining 46 members are elected from 10 sections of the university and its vast flotilla of 200 affiliated colleges. Thus, representation is given to different groups of principals and faculty from colleges and registered graduates. Only four positions are earmarked for university teachers. This is a strange arrangement as decisions about the university, faculty recruitment and promotions, impacting the core functioning of its academic departments, are taken by the majority of the college faculty and non-teaching members.

The constituency of registered graduates is the largest one. Voting for it is conducted at hundreds of polling booths set up across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. The idea of its large size can be gauged from the fact that it includes every person who has, over the years, graduated from PU or its affiliated colleges.

In 2021, there were 3.61 lakh eligible voters. A budget of Rs 2.10 crore was allocated for the Senate elections. There is no system of deletion of deceased voters' names and no revision of voter lists is done; only an addition of new members is made. One lakh voters were registered in Ludhiana alone, where 48 polling booths were established. However, the voter turnout was a mere 14.57 per cent. This fact, makes this election an easy-to-win number game. Voters of denominational institutes and organisations, such as banks, traders' bodies and other unions, are easy to capture for en bloc voting.

Historically, the representation of women, people with disabilities, minorities, reserved categories or other marginalised groups in the Senate has been dismal. The trope of dynastic politics is quite visible.

The Panjab University Senate election is a significant event in north-west India as the university has been the prime institute of higher learning in the region since the pre-Partition times. With almost 100 departments on the campus and 200 colleges spread across Punjab, it has been touching the lives of a substantial cross-section of people. The Senate holds immense powers over the management of PU affairs. Its fellows enjoy huge clout over the students, parents, faculty, staff and societal stakeholders. Thus, the elections are taken seriously, with people spending a lot of time, effort and money in their bid to get into the board. For some members, retaining their seats for decades is a prestige issue.

Peculiar calendar rules ensure that a senator can go on to become the Dean of Faculties. Despite the senators having no experience of research or academics and belonging to entirely different professions, they could grace this position. The world over, this post is reserved for the highest ranking academicians responsible for shaping the academics of the disciplines.

Though voices for reform of the PU Senate’s functioning have been raised, they have been resisted by the senators. The public perception of a PU senator is one of a power-hungry, arrogant person, as in recent years, some have been in the news for the wrong reasons.

However, we need to remind ourselves of the fact that this institution has stood the test of time for more than 130 years and we must trust this form of democratic academic governance. This system took the university to the pinnacle of higher education institution rankings. PU is a NAAC A++ university, 46 of its faculty members figure among the top two per cent scientists of the world and its illustrious alumni are scattered around the globe.

The democratic structure of the Senate — with the number of elected members being more than the nominated ones and representatives from varied sections — makes it difficult for external forces with ulterior agendas to destabilise the university or intervene in decisions that are taken after brainstorming by its members.

Research studies in academic administration indicate that large executive bodies are a deterrent to sound decision-making. There is a danger of them fragmenting into sub-groups, lobbies and coteries promoting vested interests at the cost of democratic values. As per the studies, large groups tend to behave like mobs.

The optimum number of members for effective discussion, healthy debates and wise decisions is about one-third the number of the present PU Senate. Its large structure has been justified by its historicity of being a university born out of public demand and giving representation to the public.

It has also been observed that the absence of elected members in an academic governing body makes it toothless and deprived of checks and balances. Without them, there are chances of academic administrators turning either authoritarian or puppets. Such an environment is not conducive for innovation or research.

Hopefully, the delay of nearly a year in initiating the Senate elections is just a bureaucratic wrinkle and we do not commit the mistake of throwing the baby with the bathwater. Otherwise, the loss of democracy in an academic institution will cost us dear.