Governor, CM tug-of-war leaves health sciences varsity headless, uncertainty over PAU VC

The Rising Panjab Bureau

A tug-of-war between the Punjab Governor, Banwarilal Purohit and the Chief Minister Bhawant Mann has left the state's prestigious health sciences university headless for nearly three months.

The Governor in his capacity as Chancellor of the state universities, has refused to approve the appointment of noted cardiologist Gurpreet Singh Wander as Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot, asking the government to shortlist a panel of three candidates.

Upset over the snub, Wander, 62, the chief cardiologist of Hero DMC Heart Institute in Ludhiana, withdrew his candidature for the post of the Vice-Chancellor.

The post fell vacant after one of the country's top orthopaedic surgeons, Raj Bahadur, resigned from the post on July 30 after citing humiliation by Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra during his visit to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital in Faridkot.  The minister kicked up a major row when he asked Raj Bahadur to lie on a 'dirty' patient's bed during the visit.

The Governor on October 11 rejected the government's decision to appoint Wander by seeking a panel of at least three candidates for the post to choose from by a select committee. This has led to strained ties between Raj Bhavan and the government. The Chief Minister has now said that the governor will now send a panel of names, as desired by the governor. He however emphasised that in the past the governor had been routinely clearing names proposed by the government.

However, enquiries here show that when previous incumbent Dr Raj Bahadur was appointed to the post, the then Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government had sent three names for the post.

Punjab Agricultural University's former Vice-Chancellor K.S. Aulakh has said the government should have followed the procedure. He asked as to how the government made the announcement about Wander when it was not cleared by the Governor.

Earlier, the Governor reminded Mann of his constitutional responsibility after he skipped a civic reception hosted by him in honour of visiting President Droupadi Murmu. Purohit also reminded the government that in the past one year he didn't utter one word against any person. Rather he has been praising the Chief Minister.

The Governor has also issued a directive to the Chief Minister to remove Satbir Singh Gosal from the post of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Vice-Chancellor at Ludhiana by terming the appointment as "totally illegal".  He said Gosal was appointed by the state government "without following UGC norms and approval of the Chancellor".

The Governor also rejected Bhagwant Mann’s charge that he is interfering in the functioning of the government.  He asserted that as the Chancellor of the universities he's performing his duty. "Rather the government is interfering in his functioning. I will perform my duty. I have taken an oath to protect the Constitution. The Chief Minister should realise this. In fact, I administered the oath of office to the Chief Minister. He should not forget that."

Governor Purohit, who previously remained Governor of Tamil Nadu for four years, said Vice-Chancellors' posts were being sold in that state for Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore. He had appointed 27 Vice-Chancellors during his previous tenure.