The notices were also issued to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and University Grants Commission. (File)The Punjab and Haryana High Court Monday issued a notice to the Punjab government on a petition challenging the two-year extension granted to Punjab Agriculture University Vice-Chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon. Seeking his removal from the post which he has been holding since 2011, the plea said Dhillon is now 72 years old and cannot be re-appointed for a second time.
The notices were also issued to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and University Grants Commission. “In terms of Section 15(2) of the Haryana and Punjab Agriculture Universities Act of 1970, Dhillon could not have been appointed beyond second term, as in the absence of any maximum age prescribed upto which a V-C can continue on his post, any term beyond second term would amount to appointing a V-C in perpetuity,” advocate Hari Chand Arora argued before a single bench on behalf of petitioner Jagdeep Singh Gill, who is chairman of Samajik Jagriti Front.
The HC was informed that Dhillon was appointed as the V-C in 2011 for a tenure of four years upto 2015, but was re-appointed to the post in 2015 till 2019. “Now, he has been appointed for two years upto June 30, 2021 by granting him an extension for two more years,” the plea said. It added that the accreditation board of ICAR in 2014 had decided that the PAU has to make necessary arrangements that its Acts and Statutes are according to the ICAR Model Act, 2009, “which in turn, envisages that an incumbent of the post of V-C in any agricultural university can hold the said post only up to the age of 70 years”.
