Joining of junior officer as officiating registrar of IKGPTU sparks outcry over political interference, norms violation

Thereafter, as per Office Order No. IKGPTU/VC/0139 dated June 4, 2025, Dr Navdeepak Sandhu, Deputy Director (Corporate Relations & Alumni), was appointed the new officiating Registrar.

The appointment raised several red flags.

“Not only are around two dozen officers senior to Sandhu, but he also lacks administrative experience in core university functions,” the PTU Officers Welfare Association said.

The association also raised the point that the appointment order issued by the vice-chancellor was also cited: “On the instructions from the Chairperson, Board of Governors, Dr Sandhu is being appointed as a new officiating Registrar of the university.”

According to the association, “The Chairperson (Principal Secretary, Technical Education), who is on an official tour abroad, approved Sandhu’s appointment from abroad despite the fact the university rules dictate ‘only the Vice-Chancellor is authorised to assign officiating charges, and the involvement of the Board or its Chairperson in such matters is unprecedented and irregular’.”

Director, Technical Education, Punjab, Monish Kumar told the Indian Express, “PTU is an autonomous body and its authorities take decisions on their own”.

However, senior officers and faculty members reacted sharply to the development.

The association submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor, urging “adherence to seniority, eligibility criteria, and UGC norms in assigning such crucial responsibilities”. They noted that “former Registrar Dr SK Misra had previously been appointed an officiating Registrar strictly based on seniority without any interference from the Board”.

Moreover, the Board of Governors, whose mandate includes regular appointments, had not been reconstituted for over three years, complicating the issue further, association members said.

“The university has been operating in the absence of a formal Board, raising serious concerns about governance and accountability,” they said.

“Photographs and eyewitness accounts suggest the MLA’s active involvement in the appointment, casting a shadow of political patronage over a public institution that is supposed to function autonomously,” association members said.

“This is a direct insult to the service, qualifications and experience of senior officers, professors and deans who have served the university with commitment for years,” a senior faculty member said on condition of anonymity. “Such appointments undermine the morale of the entire institution and send a dangerous message that ‘loyalty to political figures matters more than merit or seniority’.”

Academicians argue that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which had promised to depoliticise educational institutions and uphold transparency, “appears to be enabling the very practices it once condemned”.

Academic circles and university staff are demanding “immediate rollback of the appointment, restoration of institutional procedures, and a firm assurance from the government that merit and rules, not political pressure, will govern the university administration”.