Chandigarh, February 4: Panjab University is the fourth University in South Asia that was set up by the British in 1882. It is the only university set up by an Act of Parliament. After partition, the new East Punjab University Act was passed by the then Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1948. It enjoys a unique status of being partially funded by the Centre and partially by the State government. Being neither a central university nor a state university, it is an inter-state body corporate.

Under the Act, the varsity was supposed to get 40 per cent share of funds from Haryana, 40 per cent from Punjab and the rest from UT through the Centre. After Haryana withdrew from its stake, 60 per cent share went to UT and 40 per cent was left with Punjab. This unique status has to an extent proved to be a hindrance in the functioning of the varsity.

Funding

Though the funding has to be shared by the UT Administration and Punjab Government, the latter is not providing its designated amount which is around Rs 16 crore. The funds are essentially being provided by the centre through the Administration.

With the university having a budget of more than Rs 130 crore sufficient funds are not available. There are no means to fulfill this deficiency. The varsity has introduced various self-financing courses and plans are underway to start some more, but the funds generated are not sufficient.

“PUTA has been raising the demand for Central University status for quite some time now. The reason is that if PU is made a Central varsity we would be assured sufficient fund,” says Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) president Prof A S Ahluwalia.

Retirement

The retirement age of faculty members of Central Universities has been increased to 65. However, the same is not the case with PU which follows rules of the Punjab government in these matters. While the teachers were already contesting cases in courts to get the age of retirement increased to 62, now the legal battles are on for it to be increased to 65. There are more than 20 such cases in courts at present. The retirement age, though is 60 years, extension was being given to the teachers to serve till the age of 62. They could take a limited number of classes per week.

Recently, the Senate has approved that the salaries of the teachers who were serving till the age of 65 should be released. This came as a partial relief to the faculty.

Changing Rules

The changes in the Act can be brought about only by the Government of India (GOI). As far as the regulations are concerned, the recommendations are made by the Senators and sent to the GOI. These can be accepted or rejected. The rules in Volume (III) of the Calendar can be changed by the Senate.

The students of the varsity have been demanding representation in the Senate for some time now. The demand was that a member from the Council should be allowed to represent the students in the Senate. However, this has not happened till date.

A recent recommendation by the Senate to increase the retirement age of teachers to 62 was rejected by the GOI.

“The status of the university does not prove to be a problem. Like with the State Universities the State is the governing body and the recommendations have to be passed by the state government. The same is the case with us. It is just that the Centre has to be approached for decisions,” says PU Senator Ashok Goel.

Demand for Central University Status

The demand for Central University status picked up momentum, especially in the past year. PUTA has been raising the demand which was picked up by the student organizations during the elections to the Students’ Council. The announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that 30 new Central Universities would be provided in the country raised the hopes of many.

PUTA General Secretary Prof Manjit Singh says, “The Central University status would have many benefits. The best of faculty members can be recruited. With 30 new Central Universities opening up, faculty members might want to shift from here to other Universities where the retirement age is five years more. With our University becoming a Central University, this could be stopped. More funds would also be generated which would be beneficial for the development.”

The status also promises to bring along benefits for the students. The student bodies feel that the advantage is that there could be a cap on the fee hike. With funds coming in, the fees would not be increased. Also the research scholars in Central Universities are assured of a stipend every month. This would improve the atmosphere as well as the quality of research.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/IS-Universitys-UNIQUE-STATUS-ANY...