Chandigarh, Nov. 6 -- Amid political backlash in Punjab and protests on the campus, the central government has put the restructuring of Panjab University's senate on hold. On Thursday, two notifications, dated November 4, came to fore. The first cancelled the October 28 decision to overhaul the university's apex governing body. Soon after, another notification announced that the changes in the governing body will come into effect "as appointed by the central government". This, experts noted, meant that the October 28 decision will be implemented on a future date, as deemed fit by the Centre. The original notification, which came into the public domain on October 29, had stirred a political furore in Punjab and amplified protests on the campus from students who were already agitating against the "no-protest" affidavit. The affidavit, sought from students during admission, was withdrawn by the varsity authorities on Wednesday. In the October notification, the Centre had brought down the number of senators from 97 to 31, and done away with the syndicate election, where members were picked from among the senate members. The senate oversees all university's affairs, concerns and property. All decisions related to academics and the budget require its final approval. The previous term of the senate expired on October 31, 2024, and the varsity had been awaiting the election schedule from the office of the chancellor, the Vice-President of India, ever since. The syndicate is the senate's executive arm, holding the powers to make recommendations in the matters regarding appointment of officers of Class A, affiliation and disaffiliation of colleges, annual budget and supplementary grants, among others. Through the October notification, the government had also completely done away with election to the senate's registered graduate constituency, whose 15 members were elected from among the varsity alumni. PU was the only university in the region with a graduate constituency. The constitution of the senate has remained unchanged for the past 59 years at the 143-year-old university, founded in Lahore before Partition. Once the reforms take effect, the 31-member senate will include 18 elected members, six nominated and seven ex-officio members. Among the elected members will be two eminent alumni and one professor each from the varsity's arts and science departments, four elected by affiliated college principals and six by teachers of affiliated colleges. Two MLAs from Punjab, elected from among the MLAs and nominated by the speaker, would also be there. The number of ex-officio members from Punjab and Chandigarh remains almost the same, with only the addition of the Chandigarh MP. Others include the chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court; Punjab chief minister, education minister and higher education secretary; adviser to the Chandigarh administrator and education secretary. The student council would continue to have no represen-tation in the new senate, a demand being raised for decades. Haryana's demand of allowing participation inthe senate has also not been yielded to. Besides, the syndicate elections, where pressure groups from the university prevailed, have been scrapped and the executive body will be nominated by the vice-chancellor on a rotational basis, depending on seniority. These members don't necessarily have to be members of the senate, which many feel, may undermine the work of the senate....