No, Chandigarh University is not in Chandigarh or related to Panjab University (PU)

Where are PU and CU located and who manages them?

Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, is a Central and state government-funded university located in the Union Territory (UT) of Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Established as the University of Punjab in 1882 at Lahore (now in Pakistan), it’s new campus after partition was built at Chandigarh, under the guidance of Le Corbusier and moved to its present location in 1958-1960. During the reorganization of Punjab in 1966, PU was declared an “Inter State Body Corporate” under the section 72(1) of Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, enacted by the Parliament. After Haryana and Himachal Pradesh withdrew from the fund sharing agreement, since 1976, the Punjab and Chandigarh administrations have been funding the university along with the Centre.

Chandigarh University (CU), on the other hand, is a decade-old private university which was established in 2012, with its campus located at Gharuan in Kharar tehsil of Mohali district, Punjab. It was founded by Satnam Singh Sandhu, a Sikh entrepreneur-cum-philanthropist, who had first started Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) at Landran in Mohali in 2001. The varsity’s website says, “The name of the university is inspired by The City Beautiful-Chandigarh known as the epitome of cultural heritage and urbanization.”

So while PU is located in Chandigarh, CU is located in Punjab.

PU campus, Chandigarh

The row over Chandigarh University’s name

The issue started after PU, which is a more than a century-old iconic government institution, realised that a private university in Punjab was using “Chandigarh” in its name, triggering confusion among students seeking admission at PU.
A committee was constituted by PU to look into the matter, but eventually the matter never reached a logical conclusion. The committee members, after a meeting in 2019, had decided that legal opinion had to be sought on the issue before writing to the Punjab government and UT administration with any suggestions.
M Rajivlochan, professor of department of history, PU, who was one of the committee members, said: “The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, clearly states that we cannot use the name of states/UTs for private purposes without permission of authorities. We had raised the issue because the nomenclature of Chandigarh University was hurting the brand image of PU at many levels, especially during admissions. Students would fill-up admission forms of CU and reach PU and vice-versa. However, finally it was for the higher authorities to take it up further at the government-level.”

PU’s clarification

The confusion of names between both varsities had reached the extent of PU having to issue a clarification on its website stating that it wasn’t related to CU by any means. “Panjab University is not related at all to Chandigarh University, which is a private university and located in District Mohali, Punjab, about 25 kms from Chandigarh. No official of Panjab University or Admission Cell is giving any call to the prospective candidate for seeking admission to PU or for submitting admission fee etc,” states the clarification on PU’s website.

Fresh trigger

The issue once again shot back into the limelight after some people on social media assumed that the recent video leak incident had taken place at PU instead of Chandigarh University. A few social media users also assumed that Chandigarh University was a government-run institute as it had “Chandigarh” in its name.

Chandigarh BJP MP Kirron Kher jumped into the controversy on Monday and tweeted, “I am morally shaken by the ghastly incident at Chandigarh University. The name of my city is being tarnished due to this institute. I want to clarify that it is based in Kharar, Punjab…”

Mritunjay Kumar, president, PU Teachers Association (PUTA), said, “It is the prerogative of the UT administration to check how a private varsity was using Chandigarh’s name when it is not even located at Chandigarh. This issue has impacted public opinion, perception about PU in the minds of students seeking admission and has definitely created a lot of confusion. A committee was constituted by PU to look into the name issue earlier, but the outcome was never made public. After the latest videos fiasco, most people are assuming that it has happened at PU.”

Officials say

Yajvender Pal Verma, registrar, PU Chandigarh, said that it was not just the Chandigarh University’s name but even that of departments that was causing confusion and impacting PU’s goodwill and reputation. “I have to check the status of committee findings as I joined as a registrar only recently, but even names of departments and other terminology being used by CU is causing a lot of confusion. After the recent incident at CU, it has again become a problem for us,” said the registrar.

Arun Grover, former vice-chancellor, PU, said that the issue was raised during his tenure. “But since the Punjab legislature has given approval to this name, PU cannot do anything legally to oppose it. Members of the committee had shown concern but did not give any practical directives. Private universities thereafter have also received huge patronage from political parties. Decisions taken at government level cannot be challenged by a progressively weakened PU system. CU creates an impression that it is Chandigarh University, Punjab which gets confused with Panjab University, Chandigarh. The question is also on ethics of CU management who should see that the interests of PU, which is a nationally significant institution, are not compromised while they build the reputation of CU,” said Grover.

RS Bawa, pro-chancellor of Chandigarh University said that their institute was established after following all due process of law. He said, “The Chandigarh University Act, 2012 was duly enacted by the Punjab government. If Panjab University can be in Chandigarh, why can’t Chandigarh University in Punjab? Any incident can happen anywhere.”