Centre dissolves PU senate, syndicate; AAP, opposition, students protest

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Vagisha Kaushik November 3, 2025 11:46 AM IST 3 mins read Union government restructures Panjab University’s governing bodies, reducing senate members to 31, amending Panjab University Act. In a significant development, Centre has dissolved the governing bodies of Panjab University and restructured the Senate and Syndicate into fully nominated bodies, a move that has led to an uproar in the state, drawing flak from the ruling and opposition parties, students, and academicians. Through an October 28 notification, the ministry of education reduced the PU senate’s strength from 90 to 31 including 18 elected, six nominated, and remaining as ex-officio members, by amending the Panjab University Act, 1947. Calling it an

Vagisha Kaushik

Expressing shock at the nomination of the union territory’s “bureaucrats” to the university senate, he also strongly condemned the abolition of the existing graduate constituency and replacing it with “dictatorial” bureaucratic control. SAD president urged the centre to immediately withdraw these decisions “as this amounts to a brazen injustice and discrimination against Punjab.” In opposition to the decision, PU students’ council has gone on an indefinite hunger strike, demanding the roll-back of the order.

In a significant development, Centre has dissolved the governing bodies of

Member of Parliament (MP) Manish Tewari met the students protesting against a “half-baked affidavit that seeks to stifle freedom of speech and expression.” Another MP and former student council president Malvinder Singh Kang expressed solidarity with the protesting students. “A university senate born of Punjab’s own legislative will in 1947 cannot be hijacked by a midnight notification. Reducing the Senate to a handpicked 31 is not “reform” it’s a bulldozer over democracy, a direct blow to Punjab’s constitutional rights under the Reorganization Act of 1966,” the AAP leader said in a statement.

Through an October 28 notification, the ministry of education reduced the PU

The notification to dissolve the Panjab University’s Senate is totally unconstitutional,” Mann said in a video message. CM Mann argued that centre does not have the power to amend the Act through a notification, it must be done either by the Vidhan Sabha or Parliament. He called the decision Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s gift to the state and its people on Punjab day. Also read AMU student dies by suicide in women’s hostel; ‘tragic wake-up call’ says students’ union Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress slammed the central government for dissolving the PU senate and syndicate, highlighting the ‘centralisation’ of Punjab’s legacy.

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