Punjab University Academic Staff Association had demanded of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar to withdraw notification stopping backdated appointment of PU faculty members otherwise teachers would launch protest movement.

In a press statement, PUASA Professor Mumtaz Anwar Chaudhry, Secretary Javed Sami and others said that PU teachers have strongly condemned Punjab governor for barring PU administration from backdated appointment of teachers.

They said that former Punjab Governor Mian Muhammad Azhar in a meeting with PU teachers had agreed to the decision of Syndicate regarding backdated appointment of teachers. They also said that in February 2019, Punjab Higher Education Minister Raja Yasir Hummayun on behalf of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar while chairing the meeting of PU Senate also endorsed backdated appointment of teachers and fulfilled all codal formalities.

They said that after fulfillment of all codal formalities, the notification issue by the governor was unjustified. They said that in many top universities of the world, there was practice of backdated appointment of teachers due to delay in selection process to encourage teachers.

They were of the view that on one side Punjab government had reduced higher education budget by 50 percent and on the other side it was snatching facilities already available for the teachers for promotion of research culture. He said that the government must convince itself that the country could not prosper without education and if country's development was on its agenda, it must give priority to education.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019