ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has expressed extreme dismay over non-compliance of its order by the federal and provincial governments regarding filling the posts of vice-chancellors and other tenured positions in public universities.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, on Wednesday, heard the petition of the All Public Universities BPS Teachers Association (Association), a registered charity. The Association represents about 50,000 teachers working in public universities.
The chief justice noted that the financial position of public universities has been eroded due to the increase of ministerial staff as compared to academic staff. The universities are directed to file reports in this regard. The universities are also ordered to submit the reports regarding the amount they generate and their dependency on the amount received from the national kitty.
The Supreme Court on 1st April 2024 issued notices to the federal government and to the secretaries of all four provinces directing them to file comments with regard to the public sector universities within their respective jurisdictions, including identifying the public sector universities where the positions of vice-chancellors and other tenured positions are lying vacant or such positions are held on acting charge basis and since when.
The chief justice noticed that it has been a month-and-a-half when Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman, representing the Federal Ministry of Education, sought time to file a response on behalf of the ministry.
The Court said the information sought through order of 1st April should have been easily available on the website of the ministry, as 45 days were enough to file the comments, but the same has not been done.
Senior Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training said that they did not receive the information from three universities, situated in the jurisdiction of the federation, therefore, they failed to file the comment on the Court’s queries.
The bench noted that there was no requirement of information from the universities, as it should have been available in the Ministry of Federal Education. The chief justice observed that the matter is of utmost seriousness, and it involves the law, which governs the universities. However, it was not taken seriously, said the CJP, and added if the officers in the ministry continue to do so then serious consequences may follow.
The Court noted that the “Search Committee” under the law is tasked to select suitable candidates for the post of vice-chancellor of the universities. It said the committees should have completed the task by now and the competent authorities should have appointed the VCs.
The additional advocate general Balochistan filed the statement on behalf of the Balochistan government.
The list attached with it showed that there were 11 public universities in the province, and five out of them have vice-chancellors on acting charge basis. The AAG said that regarding two universities, the BHC had passed stay orders.
The AAG Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa informed that there are 34 public universities in the province, and out of them, 19 have VCs on acting charge basis. He said the “Search Committee” has completed the process and three names for each university have been sent to the cabinet for approval. When the chief justice asked him where is the list? The AAG replied he did not bring it.
Justice Faez then inquired why the KP government was hiding the names for VCs from the people of Pakistan, and the Supreme Court, saying the officials like to fit their relatives in that post. He further said that concealment is done in case of wrongdoing, adding public universities’ employees are paid from the national exchequer. The CJP said if the problems of the education system of Pakistan are ameliorated then other problems would end.
The court expressed extreme dismay over the fact that the majority of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa universities are functioning without full-time VCs.
The AAG explained that the VCs could not be appointed earlier as the Peshawar High Court and a District Court in KP had passed restraining orders. The chief justice said that the law requires that the VC posts are filled in accordance with the law. He said if the matters related to the appointment of VCs are brought before the Courts then they should decide them expeditiously, otherwise, it would be construed that the judges are an impediment in the matter.
The AAG Punjab said that there are 34 public universities in the province, and out of them, in 25 varsities the posts of VC were vacant since last year. He said that the LHC last year had passed an order that the interim government does not have the mandate to constitute a “Search Committee”. He said that the ICA was filed against the single judge’s order, but it has become infructuous as the elections have been held.
He apprised that the incumbent government of the province has given approval to the “Search Committee” and the process for appointment of VC would be completed within two months.
The AAG Sindh said that there are 27 public universities in the province and out of them seven universities do not have full-time vice-chancellors. He submitted that the process for the appointment of VCs has commenced and it will be completed within “a reasonable time”.
The court directed the AAGs to submit the progress report on appointment in one month’s time, saying that the case would be fixed thereupon.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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