Savitribai Phule Pune University: Delay in setting up student facilitation centre, unfair quota in management council discussed

The first full-fledged senate meeting after the new Maharashtra Public Universities Act came into force was held at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) on Saturday. The meeting saw heated discussions over several subjects, including unfair application of reservation quota in selection of management council representatives and loss to the university because of a delay in setting up a student facilitation. The meeting that started at 11 am went on for over 12 hours, late into the night, as senate members grilled the university administration on several subjects. The session was chaired by Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar. Some of the most heated exchanges were over the issue of application of reservation quota, as per the MU Act.

The issue was raised by member Shashikant Tikote. “The MU Act has made provision for one member from each of the constitutionally reserved categories, SC, ST, NT, OBC and women, to be represented on the management council. These members have to be selected from the senate. Members of the senate get elected under various categories, like representatives from management, college teachers, university department teachers, principals and so on. Of these, one representative from open and one from the reserved category is chosen for management council. Accordingly, a draw of lots by rotation took place for the reserved category seats but it was not done in a transparent and fair manner,” he said.

Tikote added: “The SC category reservation was applied to the management quota representatives, where no candidate was available from the category. It was done deliberately and is also a contravention of the MU Act. Hence, the university administration must draw the lots again.”

For nearly 20 minutes, arguments took place and allegations were raised against the university administration’s act of “surreptitiously” drawing the lots. Principal of Modern College and senate member Sanjay Kharat, pointed out how at Jalgaon and Amravati universities, a failure to apply constitutional reservations for management council seats resulted in a status quo being declared by the High Court for the election process.

Kharat levelled a direct allegation against the administration of deliberately shuttling reserved category members from important assignments. Earlier in the day, members had proposed that Kharat be appointed as a representative of the senate on a committee appointed to inspect affiliated colleges or institutions, as per the MU Act. A large majority of members proposed Kharat’s name while a couple of them suggested that the V-C nominates the member, following which the administration kept the matter aside for deliberation. However, after the direct charges, the matter was once again brought to vote before the senate and Kharat was nominated on the committee.

Another issue that generated a lot of debate was the delay in the construction of the student facilitation centre, whose work was supposed to start in 2013. An amphitheatre, a hair cutting salon, a laundry room and more such facilities were promised at the centre for which a budget of Rs 18.5 crore was sanctioned and Rs 8 crore were handed over to the Public Works Department for construction. Senate member Santosh Dhore raised the issue alleging that while the work on the centre has not even started as of yet, the delay hasn’t just cost the students but also financial loss to the university.

“Had that money been put into any nationalised bank, today a few crores of rupees would have been earned in interest. The entire project got delayed because some trees on the proposed area where the centre is to come up are to be cut and permission was needed from the local Tree Authority to cut them. No one took the lead in it and even the money is just lying like that. The loss has been incurred because of the neglect of university officials. Action should be taken on those responsible for the loss and the project should get started,” he demanded.

After the discussions the V-C admitted that a loss has been incurred by the university and promised to set up an inquiry into the matter. He also assured the members that the money will be taken back from the PWD.

News Source (Indian Express)