Chandigarh: 867 gold medals not awarded since 2019, PU’s ex-senator writes to Kataraia

As graduation ceremonies were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Panjab University (PU) is yet to provide 867 gold medals to meritorious students who had achieved excellence in their respective courses from the academic session 2019-20 to 2023-24.

While Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had earlier urged the PU authorities to award the medals to students, former senator Davesh Moudgil, who is also the former Chandigarh mayor, has now raised the issue in a letter to UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria.

PU ABVP president Parvindra Singh Negi had earlier highlighted that 867 students between the 2019-20 and 2023-24 batches have not received gold medals. These medals are awarded to the course toppers of the respective courses in PU and its affiliated colleges on convocation.

Flagging a delay, Moudgil has asked Kataria to immediately solve the matter and take action against officials concerned with the university.

PU vice-chancellor (V-C) Renu Vig said the Centre’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, under which medals are procured, led to the delay. “The standard procedure is to get these medals through tendering via GeM. However, convocation wasn’t held during the Covid years in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, this led to students of three batches getting their convocation in the same year, which led to the issue. We have started giving the medals from the 2022 batch onwards and will resolve the problem for previous batches as well.”

For this year, Vig added that she has given permission for on-the-spot procurement and it is likely that all gold medallists will be awarded. They also plan to give medals to the previous toppers as well. A notice has been issued by the authorities inviting quotations from firms for the preparation of these medals.

Traditional attire for convocation likely this year

While PU is set to adopt a traditional attire in favour of gowns for this year’s convocation ceremony as well, the process is still in its final stages as per officials.

The convocation is likely to be held in the next couple of months. Moudgil added that it has been over two years and the varsity still hasn’t been able to finalise traditional dress for the graduation ceremony as directed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and it’s a disgrace that such a thing is taking so long to be finalised.