Ad hocism hits Pbi varsity, V-C fails to clear ‘mess’

PATIALA:WITH students protesting for nearly three weeks over the demand for round-the-clock hostel entry for girls and ensuing violent clash between two groups on Tuesday, the authorities have been forced to shut Punjabi University twice in the last 20 days.

Be it the issue of graft, illegal recruitments, violation of rules during the tenure of previous vice-chancellor Prof Jaspal Singh or a scam in the examination branch and the ongoing protests under the incumbent V-C, Prof BS Ghuman, the university is not new to controversies.

But now questions are being raised over Prof Ghuman’s alleged failure to resolve the issues .

It has been more than a year since he took charge as V-C, Prof Ghuman has failed to clear the mess he inherited from his predecessor. He has failed to make permanent appointments of the registrar, examination controller, finance officer, dean (colleges), director (youth welfare), director (public relations) among other important posts which are being handled on ad hoc basic.

While some professors are holding two or three prominent positions, others rue that they have not been given any administrative roles despite their seniority. Moreover, admissions to the varsity have nosedived with nearly 50%engineering seats lying vacant besides a chaos prevailing in the examination branch.

“I know him (Dr Ghuman) before I joined Punjabi University. He specialises in the art of indecision. Inaction and indecisiveness is proving costly to the university and he is facing the brunt,” said a university teacher requesting anonymity.

“Had he acted on the inquiry reports indicting corrupt officials for wrongdoings, he would have been placed better,” he added.

Ghuman said since he is trying to bring in transparency in the functioning of the varsity he is facing some hurdles. “All demands except the one for round-the-clock hostel entry for girls have been met. The demand was rejected by majority of students but we are still open for discussion. We have a roadmap to end ad hocism. I am hopeful that all issues will be resolved in the coming days,” he said.