The anticipated elections of the Punjab University (PU) syndicate were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday.
The varsity’s ultimate governing body, the senate, had authorised the vice-chancellor to set a date for the syndicate elections on January 8.
The high court bench of justice Rajbir Sehrawat acted on the petition of several PU faculty members, who demanded that the varsity announce the election of six senate members from the faculty constituency.
Members of the Syndicate are chosen from the senate. It is the executive arm of the PU senate and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the university, however it has not had elections in two years.
The Vice-President of India nominates 36 senators, two from the Punjab Assembly, six are ex-officio members, and the remaining 47 senators are chosen from eight seats. The elections were held in August of last year after a two-year hiatus.
During the hearing, the petitioners informed the court that the returning officer assigned by the university had lawfully declared them as elected senate members from the academic constituency.
The university officials, on the other hand, had not provided the required statutory notification in this regard.
The University’scounsel, on the other hand, told the court that the election of senate members is subject to the approval of the varsity chancellor under statutory provisions, and that in the instance of these members, some petitions had been received disputing their election. As a result, they have been served with show-cause notices, but have yet to respond.
Because the petitioners stated that they did not receive copies of the petitions, the court ordered that they be provided with copies within a week and that they file their responses within ten days. The court was promised that it will make a ruling on the petitions within two weeks.
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