HYDERABAD, April 27: A joint meeting of the central, regional and district office-bearers of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) held here on Saturday has demanded that the promotion orders of grade-19 senior professors of government cadre be issued without delay.

Presided over by Prof Liaquat Aziz, the meeting deplored that 31 senior professors of government cadre had not been given promotion in grade-20 yet though a decision in this regard had been taken in Nov last.

The meeting threatened that if the promotions of the senior professors were further delayed, the association would launch a protest movement.

It recalled that a meeting of the provincial selection board was held on Nov 23, 2001 in which promotions of officials of different departments including 19-grade senior professors of education department were approved. It added that the meeting was presided over by the Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro and attended by Sindh Education Minister Anita Ghulam Ali.

The SPLA recalled that in the meeting, the promotion of 19 men professors and 12 women professors were approved and Prof Shamshad Ali Khan and Prof Ali Nawaz Shaikh, who were at the verge of retirement, were promoted to grade-20 as special cases.

The SPLA meeting said that the cases of other professors were sent to the chief secretary for postings.

The meeting observed that the leaders of the Sindh Educational Alliance under instructions from the Sindh governor had met with the education minister on March 21 and it was decided that the promotion cases of senior professors would be disposed of by March 28 and it was clearly mentioned in the minutes of the meeting.

The SPLA meeting rejected the amalgamated seniority list and termed it controversial, temporary and illegal.

The meeting observed that inordinate delay in the promotion of senior professors had created unrest among the 7,000 college teachers and demanded that 250 nationalized cadre teachers should be asked to appear before the Sindh Public Service Commission and the medical board.

The SPLA maintained that their promotion would be violation of law and service rules.

The meeting called upon the education minister not to become a party as she was no longer a leader of the nationalized cadre.