Any change in Panjab University character not be tolerated: Punjab CM
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Jun, 2023 10:23 AM
Chandigarh, June 1 (IANS) Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to avert any change in the nature and character of Panjab University in Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said the university is heritage of the state and any sort of change in it will not be tolerated.
The Chief Minister, who participated in a meeting with the Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh Banwari Lal Purohit and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here, said the Punjab government is committed to safeguard the rights of the state and its people.
Mann, who firmly placed on record the facts pertaining to the university, said this premier educational institute has an emotional place in the hearts of the people of Punjab on account of historical, cultural and provincial reasons.
He said Panjab University is a symbol of Punjab's legacy and is synonymous with the name of the state.
The Chief Minister said the university caters only to Punjab and its capital Chandigarh. Citing the history of the university, its constitution, its ethnic, socio-cultural and historical roots as well as its faculty and students who hail primarily from Punjab.
Mann said it is important that the present legal and administrative status of Panjab University should be preserved. He reminded that at the time of the reorganization of the state of Punjab in 1966, Panjab University was declared as an 'Inter State Body Corporate' under section 72(1) of the Punjab Reorganization Act of 1966 enacted by the Parliament.
The Chief Minister said ever since its inception, Panjab University has been continuously and uninterruptedly functioning in Punjab. Mann recalled that it was shifted from Lahore, the then capital of Punjab, to Hoshiarpur and then to Chandigarh the present capital of Punjab.
He said at present 175 colleges of Punjab situated in the districts of Fazilka, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Moga, Muktsar Sahib and S.B.S Nagar are affiliated with Panjab University.
On January 25, the Supreme Court granted interim bail for eight weeks to Ashish Mishra and directed him to leave Uttar Pradesh within one week of his release from jail. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari directed the sessions judge dealing with the trial of the case to keep apprising it about the future developments of the trial.
Badal was reacting to media reports, which quoted the Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor as saying that the varsity is facing a "dark future" and demanded that the budgetary grant should be over Rs 300 crore. "The university is already under a debt of Rs 150 crore and is not in a position to pay salaries on time," Vice-Chancellor Professor Arvind has said.
Announcing this here, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said a decision to this effect had been taken under the leadership of party President Sukhbir Badal following a meeting with constituency in-charges and senior BSP leadership.
Earlier in the day, the court deferred hearing in Sisodia's bail application for March 21, in the same case being probed by the CBI. Special CBI Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Courts has ordered Sisodia to be produced before court on March 17 at 2 p.m.
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday recovered an AK series rifle along with two magazines and 40 rounds of ammunition from a field in Gurdaspur sector after shooting down a drone. During the search, BSF troops found a hexacopter along with the weapon and ammunition.
The Chief Minister said the government has so far given 26,797 jobs to youth, adding that the budget stipulates to regularly recruit and create an ecosystem for private jobs for Punjabis to check brain drain.
