Campus watch

SHIMLA: With the BJP returning to power in the state, change is visible on the campus of Himachal Pradesh University. Vice-Chancellor C L Ku...

SHIMLA: With the BJP returning to power in the state, change is visible on the campus of Himachal Pradesh University. Vice-Chancellor C L Kundu, an appointee of the Congress Government, seems to be making an effort to mend fences with the ruling party. More than half-a-dozen new appointments made by him in the past three weeks have gone in favour of the BJP sympathisers and activists. These include appointments of hostel wardens.

Though the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has asked for replacement of the vice-chancellor, Kundu sees no threat to his position. He has already completed more than two years of his tenure and his term will end early next year. His supporters on the campus have started talking about a second term for him.

The softening up of the government towards the VC has, of course, caused some embarrassment to J P Nadda, Minister for Health and Parliamentary Affairs. He had demanded a CBI probe into the alleged recruitment scandal and financial bungling. No probe was ordered by the Congress Government and the VC had issued statements attacking Nadda and other BJP leaders. Nadda had gone to the extent of demanding the sack of the VC on the issue of de-recognition of the B.Ed course by the National Council for Teachers Education.

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The elections to the Students’ Central Association (SCA) are expected to become a major issue on the campus again. The elections could not be held during the past three years despite persistent demands from all students’ bodies. The VC admits that he has to consult the state government on the issue. Governor V.S. Rama Devi tried to explore the possibilities of holding the elections to the SCA but the conditions were not found congenial. "I will take up the matter with the new government. The matter requires deft handling as many a time elections lead to fresh violence," Kundu says.

Though SCA elections remain a suspense, the HPU non-teaching employees have announced their schedule for the elections. The process for filing the nominations will start on April 20 and elections will be held on April 29. The prominent names being mentioned for the post of the president are Nand Lal Thakur, Waryam Singh Bains, Ishwar Singh Verma, Bishan Singh Chandel and Parkash Parihar.

The university’s regional centre at Dharamshala remains a poor cousin of the local degree college. But things may change if one goes by the statement of Krishan Kapoor, Minister for Transport and Tribal Development. Kapoor had stated that at least two new vocational courses would be introduced at the centre. The university has decided to introduce Electronics and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the next academic session. Both post-graduate courses will have 30 seats each.