The student has been given admission at DAV College, Sector 10, though he does not figure either on the merit list or the waiting list.

The college authorities were reportedly asked by the Vice-Chancellor to admit the student. They concede admitting the student, the son of a senior Punjab bureaucrat. Denying that the admission process was subverted, they say they were asked by the university to admit the student.

Interestingly, B.Com classes are also run by PU's Department of Evening Studies but the university authorities instead had a seat created in a college.

It is learnt that another college was asked to admit a student by creating an additional seat, but the authorities refused to oblige. Earlier, an order signed by the Deputy Registrar (Colleges) was sent to the college that the Vice-Chancellor had created an additional seat and that a particular candidate had been admitted on that seat. Two such orders were sent to the college on different occasions, it is learnt.

Some members of the PU Syndicate allege that the Vice-Chancellor cannot ask a college to admit a particular student. Vice-Chancellor Prof M.M. Puri, away for a conference abroad, was not available for comment.

Syndicate members say the act is beyond the powers of the university and the regular admission process has been subverted. While the PU rules allow the Vice-Chancellor to create additional seats in university departments in special cases, admission to these seats is by merit and candidates on the waiting list are invited. In this case, however, the candidates on the waiting list were bypassed.

Panjab University officials took the plea that the admission was a special case of transfer as the parent of the candidate had just been transferred.

The admission to the B.Com course is being described as unprecedented as rarely does the Vice-Chancellor directly interfere in the admission process of affiliated colleges.

In fact, even in the university, the official in charge of admissions is not the Vice-Chancellor but the Dean, University Instructions (DUI).