Despite Rs 1-cr budget,varsity’s publication bureau lies defunct

Taking into account that the bureau had not come up with good quality publications for many years,authorities had even decided to revamp the printing house,this year.

PU senate,in March,had announced that a budget of Rs 1 crore had been set aside to set up a modern printing press inside the publication bureau,this year.

“We have constituted a committee to finalise the procedure to revamp the printing house. We have been considering the matter for long,” said Vice-Chancellor R C Sobti,while addressing the senators. However,the bureau still awaits renovation. When contacted on Saturday,Sobti said,“Purchase orders have already been placed. The process is underway”.

One of the senior officials at PU pointed out that the publications of a University indicated the quality of research being conducted by it,but the publication bureau of PU,apart from printing and reprinting textbooks,had not come up with quality publications in the past many years.

The officials have also been pointing out that PU should take inspiration from other universities in the region,including Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU),Amritar,and Panjabi University,Patiala,in promoting the Publishing house. One of the senators had suggested that the bureau should be headed by a director and also have an editorial board. It should function like a department and all the faculty members should be part of the bureau.

The manuscripts of books come to the bureau after being recommended by the Board of Studies,which also appoints an editor and a reviewer.

The manuscripts are then sent to the bureau. The price of books is around two-and-a-half times the cost and is sold at a heavy

discount to booksellers. The royalty paid to the author is 15 per cent of the profit from the annual sales after the cost of the book is recovered.