10,000 Punjab Students in Limbo as PTU Affiliation Orders Stay Pending on Oct 31

Nearly 10,000 allied healthcare students in Punjab are going to class every day without knowing if their college has formal approval for this year. Affiliation orders for 80 to 90 colleges are still pending with I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University (IKGPTU) for the 2026-27 session, and the admission deadline falls today, October 31.

Students started enrolling in these courses in July 2026. They have now been attending classes for nearly three months. Their mid-term examinations, however, have not been held. The reason is not a lack of students or teachers. It is a paperwork chain between the university, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the national regulator for allied healthcare courses that has still not closed.

How a rule change turned into a three-month wait

The trouble began with recent changes made by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP), the regulator set up under a 2021 Act for allied and healthcare professions. The commission changed some rules on course names and course content. Colleges and the university then had to check which courses matched the new rules and which did not.

IKGPTU first held back because it was waiting for a UGC notification that endorsed NCAHP courses. That notification came on August 27. After that, the university wrote to NCAHP for clarification on two courses in particular: B.Sc Cardiac Care Technology (CCT) and B.Sc Operation Theatre Technology (OTT). Objections had been raised about these two courses. The university then had to seek further clarification, and each round of letters added more delay.

The result is a split picture. Some healthcare courses face no objection on their names or syllabus. Others are still under question. Until the university gets a final word from the commission, it cannot issue affiliation orders for the affected colleges as a group.

What the university and the colleges are saying

IKGPTU Registrar Dr Navdeepak Sandhu has said the university is waiting for clarity from the state commission and does not want to break any rule. He added that courses with no objection on nomenclature or syllabus will surely be allowed to run, while the rest will follow the laid-down procedure.

“We are expecting a clarity on the matter tomorrow from the state commission. We do not want to flout any rules and regulations and will go by the final decision of the state commission.”

Colleges, on the other hand, say students should not pay the price for a delay they did not cause. Dr Anshu Kataria, president of the Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA), has written to the Punjab Health Minister asking the state government to step in and take up the matter with NCAHP. His request is simple: treat Punjab as a special case and extend the admission deadline by one month.

That extension matters for a practical reason. Admissions are still open, and the current deadline is October 31. If affiliation orders arrive after the deadline with no extension, students who joined in good faith could face questions about their seats, their exams and their academic year. A one-month extension would give the university and the regulator time to finish the process without students losing a year.

Why affiliation matters so much to students

Affiliation is not just a stamp on a college letterhead. It is the link that connects a college to the university that will hold its exams and award its degrees. Without it, a college can teach, but the path to an exam hall and a valid degree is unclear. That is why the missing mid-term exams worry students more than the delay itself. Classes without exams leave no record of progress, and a full year of study can feel uncertain.

Allied healthcare courses cover the staff who keep hospitals running behind the scenes: cardiac care technologists, operation theatre technologists, medical laboratory staff and imaging technologists, among others. These are job-oriented courses, and many students pick them for a direct route into hospital work. A lost year in such a course is not just lost time. It can mean a lost job opening, a lost internship slot and an extra year of fees for the family.

Students should also know their basic protections. The UGC fee refund rule limits what a college can deduct if admission is cancelled, and our college admission documents checklist lists the papers to keep safe during verification.

What students should do this week

• Keep every fee receipt, admission letter, prospectus copy and attendance record in one folder, in original and photocopy.
• Ask your college office, in writing, for the current status of its affiliation application and keep the reply.
• Do not pay any extra fee that is not on the official fee receipt, and ask for a written reason for any new demand.
• Watch the IKGPTU official website for the affiliation notice, and do not rely on forwarded messages or social media posts alone.
• If your college cannot give a clear answer, raise the matter with the university through its official helpdesk and keep a copy of your complaint.

We will update this education news story when IKGPTU issues the affiliation orders. For now, admissions close on October 31, the university is waiting for the commission’s word, and colleges want one more month so nearly 10,000 students do not lose a year.