The Vice Chancellor Committee Punjab proposed that a separate secretariat should be set up in the Governor Punjab office who is the Chancellor of the universities of Punjab where requests, approvals will be sent directly and his office processes the cases in accordance with the existing laws. According to the recommendations of the meeting of the Vice Chancellor Committee held on June 14, 2019 in GC University Lahore focusing on three point agenda which include ensuring autonomy through amendment in Business rules of the Government of Punjab, proposals for necessary change in the charters of the Public Sector Universities to make their functioning more efficient, reviewing the practice of Public Sector Universities of other provinces for adoption of best practices and TORs of Vice Chancellors of Medical Universities.
The VC's committee (Punjab) was informed that in the Sindh Government, a separate Department has been set up to deal with the Universities & Boards. The ministry is called under the title "Department of Universities and Boards". It was observed by the committee that in KP it seems there are no delays in the university matters because the office of the Chancellor is forwarded the requests, approvals directly and is followed up quickly and smoothly.
It was recommended that the appointments of Registrar, Treasurer and Controller of Examination be made by the Syndicate for which necessary amendments is needed to be made in the charters of the Universities. The number of MPA's in syndicate of the universities should be reduced from 3 to 1. Chairman Boards and EDO's should be the members of the Syndicate. The practice that rules of Business (of the Govt, of Punjab) supersede the Charter of the Universities needs to be stopped.
The TOR's for the salaries of the Vice Chancellor of the Medical Universities are pending and it was proposed that this be notified along the same lines as has been done for the other Universities of Punjab. Similarly in the case of other Vice Chancellors as well there is lack of clarity on one month's additional salary for each completed year in respect of gratuity as provided in TTS salary structure moreover the process of encashment of (un availed) earned leave as per rules is also ambiguous due to which Vice Chancellors, in many cases fail to en cash their earned leave accumulated during the tenure. The Universities where positions of Vice Chancellors are lying vacant should be filled quickly; further the sitting incumbent should be allowed to continue till appointment of a regular Vice Chancellor.
The Committee also recommended that new Universities been established in the last few years should be given proper budgetary sanctions and the pending formation of syndicates and other. The practice that rules of Business (of the Govt of Punjab) supersede the Charter of the Universities needs to be stopped.
Necessary amendment in the charters of newly established Universities be made for more autonomy, like the Syndicate should be chaired by the Vice Chancellor instead of the Minister, Selection of the experts for the Selection Board also should be the prerogative of the Vice Chancellor. The unnecessary interference jeopardizing the autonomy should be done away with in all the charters of the Public Universities.
The procedure of obtaining NOC's for Vice Chancellors for travel abroad is unnecessarily cumbersome and full of delays. NOC should be obtainable directly from the Honourable Chancellor. According to the minutes of the meeting the recommendations were prepared by the Vice Chancellors Committee on the directions of Governor Punjab. The Governor gave the directions after listening to the grievances of Vice Chancellors of public and private sector universities during a dinner held in Governor House Punjab organized by founder Akhuat Dr Amjad Saqib.
It was decided that the Vice Chancellor's Committee would meet and discuss various proposals to be submitted to the Honourable Chancellor for much needed improvement and modification of the rules of business of the Government of Punjab and charters of the Universities so that the Public Sector Universities could improve their performance and their autonomous stature is maintained in letter and spirit.
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