Days after Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar urged the Centre to restore his state’s share in Panjab University (PU), Punjab CM on Monday opposed any move to change the present status of PU.
In the letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, the Punjab CM said the proposal of the Haryana government for restoration of its share in the Chandigarh based University is “historically, logically, rationally and culturally unsustainable,”.
“The state of Haryana cannot arrogate to itself the privilege of altering history as and when it wishes,” Amarinder said adding that his government was open to increasing the Grant-in-Aid for the University, through a mutually consultative process.
Amarinder said as per Sub-section (4) of Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, the maintenance deficit grants to the university were shared and paid by the States concerned, i.e., Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh UT administration in the ratio of 20:20:20:40, respectively.
“Haryana and Himachal Pradesh decided to withdraw from this sharing arrangement. The Haryana government also withdrew the affiliation of its colleges from the Panjab University and transferred the same to the other Universities within Haryana state,” he said.
“These decisions were unilateral and unconditional. Thus from 1976 onwards the State of Punjab and Chandigarh UT administration paid the maintenance deficit grants to the University in the ratio of 40:60, respectively. Thereafter, the Union government vide its notification dated October 27, 1997 ceased the representation of Haryana in various governing bodies of the Panjab University,” he further said in the letter.
Elaborating further, Amarinder said notably, the University has been managing and conducting its financial affairs unilaterally. Since its inception, the Panjab University has been continuously and uninterruptedly functioning in the State of Punjab. It was shifted from Lahore, the then capital of Punjab, to Hoshiarpur and then to Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, the CM said.
As many as 175 colleges of Punjab, which are situated in the districts of Fazilka, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Moga, Sri Muktsar Sahib and SBS Nagar, are affiliated with the Panjab University.
Thus the entire territorial jurisdiction and the populace, which the Panjab University is catering to, falls primarily, in the Punjab state, in addition to the area under Union Territory of Chandigarh, the letter further stated.