Agri scientists vying for V-C posts at GNDU, Pbi varsity

PATIALA : Agricultural scientists and economists dominate the lists of names from whom the new vice-chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Punjabi University, Patiala, will be picked.

The state government’s screening-cum-selection committee has jointly shortlisted 20 candidates for both posts so far. It will be pruned further by Tuesday, it is learnt

Among the scientists in fray are Dr Satvir Singh Gosal, a plant-breeding scientist who is a former director of research at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; and Dr Satwinder Singh Marwaha, coordinator of the Centre for Applied Agriculture at Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

Also on this list are Dr Gurbachan Singh, chairman of the Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board, (ASRB), New Delhi; Dr Narpinder Singh, professor of food science and technology; and MPS Isher, who is at present the V-C of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda.

Besides them, there are Dr Devinder Singh, former registrar of Punjabi University; and Susheel Mittal, a professor at Thapar University.

From the humanities, there are Prof BS Ghuman of Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Dr Rajinder Singh Sidhu, registrar of PAU.

A candidate who applied only for GNDU is University Grants Commission secretary Dr Jaspal Singh Sandhu.

Other candidates mentioned are Dr AS Chawla, V-C of RIMT University; Dr Inderjit Singh, professor of Delhi University; Gurdeep Singh Batra, dean of research at Punjabi University; and Dr Surinder Kumar Ghakar, Subodh Kumar Aggarwal, Gurcharan Kaur, Paramjit Singh Minhas, Sardul Singh Sandhu, Anand K Tyagi and Ravinder Singh Jolly.

“The selection committee got lists of top 20 candidates from each university, from which a joint list of 20 has been prepared. On Monday or Tuesday, the committee will deliberate and decide how many to call for interview,” said a source in the higher education department.

The interviews will be held within this month at Punjabi University, said SK Sandhu, additional chief secretary, higher education, who is a member of the selection committee.

In all, 271 candidates had applied and 119 were found eligible after initial scrutiny.

Selection committee got lists of 20 from each university, from which a joint list of 20 has been prepared. On Monday or Tuesday, the committee will decide how many to call for interview. EDUCATION DEPT OFFICIAL