The Sindh Agriculture University Employees Union activists held a demonstration outside the Vice Chancellor Block on Wednesday, demanding the removal of Vice-Chancellor Dr Basheer Ahmed Shaikh They accused him of in malpractice, nepotism and favouritism.
The employees, who have been on strike for over 26 days under the banner of the Employees Action Committee, alleged that the vice-chancellor had appointed 18 retired professors and officers, in addition to a large number of his close relatives. They accused him of appointing his three sons, a daughter, a niece as well as a large number of relatives and relatives of his cronies to positions in the institute.
The Leaders of Action Committee, Hussain Bux Veesar, Karam Ali Puno, Abdul Majeed Shah, Shahmir Lochi, Ghullam Hyder Joyo and other said that the VC and his team are corrupt and involved in anti-employee and anti-education activities.
The university employees voted for the VC's removal in a referendum held recently, a move, they say, annoyed him so much that he took punitive action against leaders of the action committee. Leaders of the employees action committee said that employees would protest against the VC on Thursday and start a march from Thandi Sarak to the Hyderbad Press Club. The committee leaders said that they "will not stop their struggle until the removal of the VC and his retired team".
They said that they accepted the registrar's challenge for a public debate and were prepared to hold it at the Hyderabad Press Club, where they would produce documentary evidence of the alleged malpractice's of the vice-chancellor and his team. They appealed to the chairman of HEC, Dr Attaur Rehman to appoint an impartial inquiry committee to probe the misuse of tens of millions of rupees spent on different projects.