Minutes before orientation for their new session on Tuesday, two PhD students of Punjab Engineering College were shocked when they were told their admission had been cancelled due to a “printing mistake” in the admission brochure. Aastha Bhardwaj, one of the two students, said that five students sat for a written exam for admission to the PhD course at Punjab Engineering College (PEC) in Chandigarh’s Sector 12, to compete for two seats. “In the brochure, there was a hyphen next to the course, where the number of seats should be. When I contacted the faculty, they told us that there were two seats available for the course. There was a proper procedure — a demand draft of Rs 2,000 was deposited on July 11, and on July 12, a written test and interview were conducted by the Centre of Management and Humanities,” said Aastha. She further claimed that their results were also uploaded on the PEC’s official website. However, when they went to the college to register themselves on Tuesday, they were informed that the admission stands cancelled as the brochure mentioned a hyphen (instead of specifying that there were 0 seats), and that it was a “printing mistake”. “On July 16, the results of selected candidates was uploaded on their official website. On the 18th, official admission was scheduled and the fee was payable via a demand draft of Rs 28,000 in favour of PEC. On July 22, I was called for selection of tentative topics and official paperwork followed by scrutiny of legal documents on July 24,” she said. Aastha further said, “I was told that the centre fears that someone might protest because of the negligence in not stating the number of seats on the online brochure. The faculty refused to sign the academic registration form that we both had filled and asked us to proceed for the fee refund process. They have spoilt our career.” On Tuesday, Aastha met PEC Director Dheeraj Sanghi, who according to her, said they “can only apologise for the inconvenience caused and can say nothing beyond sorry.” The PEC director could not be reached for comment. The PEC spokesperson was requested for a comment, but refused.
