Written by: Paranjaya Mehra
3 min readChandigarhAug 27, 2019 04:42 AM IST
First published on: Aug 27, 2019 at 04:42 AM IST
Students sit in protest outside the DSW’s office at Panjab University, Chandigarh. (Express Photo)
Students belonging to the Panjab University for Democracy (a group of twelve student parties) locked the office of Dean Students Welfare (DSW) on Monday. After locking the office, the students stood outside the DSW’s office protesting against the alleged dictatorial decisions of the university’s vice-chancellor regarding the appointment of a new vice-chancellor.
Aman of the PSU Lalkaar said, “According to the rule, the vice-chancellor has to be elected by the senate. Even if the vice-chancellor wants his aide on the post of the VC, he should get it passed by the senate. Then, we will welcome the decision with open arms. Our issue is not with the new appointment but with the dictatorial ways of the appointment.”
She added, “We will not let anybody enter inside the DSW office until the decision of the eenate is reinstated”. PSU Lalkaar is also a part of PU for Democracy.
A protester from the Urdu department, Balwinder said, “At 2 pm today, we announced during a gathering at Student Centre that we will lock the DSW office. The gathering included Panjab University students and the members of various parties. There was no communication from authorities, the Cheif Security officer saw the protesters and left.”
However, the university’s Chief Security Officer Prof Ashwani Koul said, “I went and I requested the students to not protest. I tried to persuade them, but as they did not listen, I came back. Since all the papers related to the DSW are inside the office, their protest is hindering our work. I would appeal to the students that they must pursue their demands but at the same time not hamper the working of the university. We do not want to take any harsh steps because at the end of the day, they are our students. They need to understand that we cannot stop working.”
Recently, the university’s vice-chancellor had appointed Prof Jagat Bhushan as the new DSW. He will be handling the DSW charge as an additional duty, along with his duties as the Principal and Professor of the Dental Science department of Panjab University.
On the lockdown of his office, Prof Jagat said, “I could not go to the DSW office today as a dear student Ishaan Sharma passed away yesterday. There was a peace meeting in the department today and all the professors, including me, were busy there. As and when suitable, I will shift between the DSW office and the Dental department.”
Students sit in protest outside the DSW’s office at Panjab University, Chandigarh. (Express Photo)
Share
