The Panjab University Law Amendment Bill has been sent back to the Panjab Government without the President’s approval. The bill was originally presented in the Punjab Assembly on June 21 of last year. Under the bill’s provisions, the power to appoint Vice Chancellors of eleven state universities would have been transferred from the Governor to the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister was to become the Vice Chancellor of these universities. The government had proposed amendments to Section 9 of several acts, including:
• Punjabi University Act 1961
• Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar Act 1969
• Guru Nanak Dev Punjab State Open University Act 2019
• Guru Teg Bahadur State University of Law Punjab Act 2020
• IK Gujral Punjab Technical University Act 1996
• Shaheed Bhagat Singh State University Act 2021
• Government Infrastructural Development State University Act 2021
• Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Act 1998
• Guru Ravi Das Ayurveda University Punjab Act 2009
• Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University Act 2019
• Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Act 2005
If the bill had been approved, the Chief Minister would have had the authority to appoint Vice Chancellors in these universities, replacing the Governor as the Chancellor.