LAHORE: The elected members of the Punjab University syndicate and the Academic Staff Association said on Friday the Punjab government should change the selection committee constituted in order to favour a specific candidate.
In a letter written by elected members of PU syndicate Dr Muhammad Islam, Dr Asghar Iqbal and Secretary PU Academic Staff Association Dr Amjad Abbas Khan to Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and Minister Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun said that the search committee constituted during the tenure of former chief minister Usman Buzdar in order to favour a specific candidate.
According to the letter, Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University in June 2018 by Shehbaz Sharif, on his last day in the office. Dr Niaz’s tenure expired on June 6, 2022; he retired on June 14, 2022, at the age of 60, and was appointed as Professor Emeritus on the same date without prior confirmation by the syndicate.
The university’s calendar and HEC’s rules clearly say that a Professor Emeritus can’t be assigned any administrative duty but in violation of the rules and regulations, and a Supreme Court judgment on a similar issue, the retired Professor/ Professor Emeritus was appointed as stop-gap VC on July 15, 2022, by Hamza Shehbaz. It is appropriate to mention that his appointment was challenged in the Lahore High Court by the elected representatives of the syndicate, academic staff association, and Senate. The case is pending in LHC.
A committee was constituted to recommend the appointment of the VC University of the Punjab (PU) on 06/04/22. This committee is headed by a sitting Vice-Chancellor (non-PhD and an engineer). Further, a sitting VC has never been appointed even as a member of the PU VC Search Committee. Unfortunately, one of the members, Dr Akmal Hussain, resigned from the Committee on 31st May 2022. Instead of reconstituting this incomplete committee, the remaining committee decided to continue functioning. In its current form, two of the four members of the committee are engineers and the committee is still without a pure academician.
It is a matter of grave concern for the PU academic community that Dr Niaz, who also happens to be the Vice-Chairman of the Pakistan Engineering Council, can influence his professional colleagues on the committee.
It is important to draw your gracious attention to the fact that the sitting vice-chancellors, particularly, if they belong to the same profession (engineering in this case), and the same club, usually enjoy close ties.
The above-mentioned facts clearly establish and reinforce the apprehensions of the PU academic community, that the impartiality of the committee is seriously compromised. This will not provide a level playing field for other applicants for the slot.
Dr Niaz has run the university in an utterly thoughtless and ruthless manner leading to a complete breakdown of the system. He has almost bankrupted the university and has proved to be thoroughly incompetent. During these four years. Throughout his tenure, his decision-making has been dominated by his ethnic, and religio-political biases.
Nepotism and favoritism were the order of the day in his tenure. During two of the four years, the student body was absent due to the Corona pandemic. And in the remaining period, frequent student clashes and unrest have created a persistent law and order situation. On account of all this, the overwhelming majority of the university teachers and employees feel deep resentment against him.
Earlier, in a General Body Meeting of the Punjab University Academic Association (PU-ASA) presided by Prof Dr Muhammad Azhar Naeem and Dr Amjad Magsi moderated the proceedings. The university teachers raised serious concerns about the deteriorating financial, academic, and security situation at the university.
They were of the view that the policies of the administration have badly affected the university’s interests over the past four years.
The hasty and persons-specific restructuring and expansion have actually spoiled the university’s resources and created deep disbelief in the community. On the name of creation of a Medical College and a hospital millions of rupees collected from the different colleges and departments of the university.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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