Not a student,but a constant PU fixture

Meanwhile,varsity officials have issued circulars to all the departments that no student will be allowed to attend classes without an I-card.

On the Boston fiasco,PU had issued a clarification on February 19. It reads,“This year a delegation of 23 students was selected after following the required procedure,but only 21 students got the visa. This was the only official delegation of the UILS. The UILS,Department of Laws or the DSW office did not sponsor any other student. Nitin Jindal’s name is not in the list of these 21 students. Also,Barinder Dhillon is not a student of the Law Department at present. No bonafide student’s certificate has been issued by the UILS/Department of Laws to any outsider.”

Rules say

According to the rules of Panjab University,any individual is a student for one complete academic session after paying the course fee and ceases to be the same every year in May. Dhillon,who had taken admission to the Department of Law after completing his second year in 2009,did not take admission to the third year as per records of Department of Laws.

However,he continued to enjoy many privileges and was a part of several activities during the last session.

Presentation to UGC

Last year,when a UGC team visited Panjab University,Dhillon gave a presentation,apprising them about the financial position of the varsity.

The visit was quite significant as the sanction for additional grant from the Centre would be based on their report. The varsity officials,however,have failed to justify in which capacity Dhillon had represented the students. Dean,Student Welfare,Prof Naval Kishore said,“It was a routine presentation and Dhillon had taken the admission in Department of Law earlier. Also at the time of presentation we were not aware that he was not a student at that time.” Even after the presentation,nobody,including the chairpersons from various departments,questioned Dhillon giving the presentation.

Campaigned during polls

As the campus president of SOPU,Dhillon has been campaigning extensively during the students’ elections. In recent polls too,he took charge of the campaign.

Though the varsity authorities witnessed the entire show,no one questioned him for his involvement.

Met Rahul,Sibal

Apart from being a part of the presentation to the UGC,Dhillon was also associated with PUTA and met Union Minister Kapil Sibal to discuss the Central university status for PU. Authorities justify it by saying that he is a former student. Regarding the function attended by Rahul Gandhi,they said that it was not organised by the varsity.

Students question

After PU’s statement that Dhillon is not a student of the varsity,many students have raised their voice against the senior officials.

Simranjit Singh Dhillon of PUSU said,“This is unfair. By allowing Dhillon to give a presentation,they not only cheated the students but the UGC as members well. How can someone who is not even a student talk on behalf of us.”

“There has to be some ‘relation’ between Dhillon and PU authorities. His admission to the Department of Laws in 2007 is also questionable,” he added.

Former chairperson of the Department of Laws Shashi Sharma said,“Dhillon was admitted despite not appearing for the interview in person. His documents were also not complete but then Syndicate had taken over and admitted him to the department. I was on leave at that time and my next in command had completed all the formalities”.

Students protest outside V-C office

Students’ leaders from PUSU,ABVP and HSA protested outside the V-C office and created ruckus. They tried to break in to the office and broke the flower pots outside. The students wanted PU authorities to ban Dhillon’s entry to the campus. The PU authorities had to call the legal retainer to take opinion but no decision was taken till late evening

A group of six members from PUSU sat on a hunger strike and said they would continue till PU authorities takes a concrete action in the matter.

ENS