LAHORE, Feb 20: The Punjab University syndicate has confirmed the appointment of a professor in the physics department despite the fact that the case is pending with the Lahore High Court.

Similarly, the syndicate has also confirmed the professorship of the controller of examinations despite objections to the validity of his research papers.

A syndicate member told Dawn on Thursday that these cases had been approved to facilitate both the administration and anti-administration groups in the syndicate.

The syndicate confirmed Dr Haris Rasheed as professor on a post in the physics department, although a contending candidate, Dr Tasneem Zohra, had filed a petition against his selection by the PU board in June 2001.

Sources said the university was not authorized to decide the fate of a case pending with a court.

They said that PU vice-chancellor Arshad Mahmood had ordered appointment of Dr A.R. Khalid as chairman of the Department of Mass Communications, but withdrew the order when he came to know that Dr Khalid had filed a case against the department chairman Dr Shafiq Jallundhry on the issue of seniority.

Dr Tasneem Zohra told Dawn that the university administration had declared her ineligible for the post on the pretext that she had no teaching experience.

Dr Tasneem has served as a principal scientific officer in the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and is currently working as a professor of physics in the Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.

She said the university advertised the post in 1996 but did not fill it till 2001 because it was not able to find a more capable candidate than her.

She alleged that the university had appointed four employees of the PCSIR as teachers in the chemistry, physics and biology departments and the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology.

When contacted, Dr Haris Rasheed said that he had been appointed on merit and that Dr Tasneem went to the court when the university selection board had approved his selection. Therefore, he claimed, the matter was not subjudice.

Sources also said that the syndicate had decided that it would not mind appointing Dr Tasneem in the physics department if the court ruled in her favour.

Meanwhile, teachers of the faculty of science have expressed concern over such decisions of the syndicate.

Controller of Examinations Dr Ehsan Malik, who is also director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), has been confirmed as a professor by the syndicate. The source said that his research papers had been examined by a referee from Bangladesh who had objected to the work and did not approve of his professorship.

Sources said that the foreign referee’s report had not been considered at the syndicate meeting, while the other two Pakistani referees were bankers.

According to the university rules of business, the sources said, referees should either be academicians or researchers.

They said that his research papers had also not been published in any international journal.

When contacted, Dr Ehsan Malik said that referees’ panel had been selected by the university administration and the decision taken according to its recommendations.

He claimed that his research papers had been published by the Excel Books of India.

PU registrar and secretary to syndicate Masoodul Haq refused to comment on the subject when he was contacted in this regard.