MULTAN, Sept 24: Advertisement for the post of the Bahauddin Zakariya University vice-chancellor has taken the academic and social circles by surprise, as it is for the first time in its 29-year history that the institution has adopted this mode for filling vacancy.

Provincial Education Secretary Shahid Rasheed has invited applications through the print media for the post of vice-chancellors of three universities, including the BZU. The other two are the Taxila University of Engineering and Technology and the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi.

The terms of the sitting VCs of the TUET and the FJWU had been expired recently and now they are performing their duties till the appointment of their successors. However, the case of the BZU vice-chancellor's slot is a bit different.

Prof Dr Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry had retired as the BZU VC on July 14 this year after the expiry of his four-year term in the office. Prof Dr Karamat Ali, the senior most teacher in the university after Dr Chaudhry's retirement, was appointed the acting VC till further orders by the competent authority.

Academic and social circles of the area had widely welcomed the appointment of Dr Karamat and hoped that the institution would turn over a new leaf under his stewardship, as the alleged acts of commissions and omissions and cosmetic educational reforms during the four-year term of his predecessor had made a real mess.

For instance, BZU faculty of engineering and technology dean Prof Dr Akhtar Ali Malik had filed a reference with the National Accountability Bureau against the VC's alleged corruption in the construction work and appointments.

The ACE director-general later said at a press conference that after preliminary investigation the establishment was now awaiting approval of the competent authority to further proceed against him.

Likewise, the outgoing VC had introduced the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, psychology and fine arts without having any permanent faculty. To every one's astonishment, the new disciplines were launched under the institute of management sciences instead of the faculty of social sciences and arts.

Sources said the chancellor's office wanted to extend Dr Chaudhry's tenure despite all this. However, under the recent amendments to the universities' laws the authority to propose name for vice chancellorship rested with the CM's office while the chancellor's office has just to accept the proposal.

Therefore, the CM office declined to give Dr Chaudhry another term and instead directed Dr Karamat to start working as the VC. The first thing Dr Karamat did after taking the charge was to announce the posts of teachers for various disciplines being run at the university without faculty.

He also managed to re-open the chemistry department's hi-tech instrument laboratory, which had been lying closed for over nearly six months owing to intra-faculty conflicts.

Sources said since he had not been given a regular appointment letter, various pressure groups had started making efforts to see their favourites occupying the top slot.

Succumbing to the pressure, especially of a religio-political party which took keen interest in student politics, the provincial government conducted interviews of the three senior most teachers of the BZU on Sept 17. Those interviewed were Dr Karamat, Dr Hayat Awan and Dr G.R. Pasha.

The history of the BZU reveals that the senior most among the teachers has always been appointed its VC. Sources in the education department said Dr Karamat appeared to be the top contender for the slot after the interviews conducted by a provincial committee, headed by Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood.

The other members on the committee were education secretary Shahid Rashid, C&W secretary Sibtain Fazal-i-Aleem and retired bureaucrat Mehr Jeewan Khan. However, the department advertised the post only after three days of interview.

When talked, some of the senior teachers at the BZU said it seemed that the authorities concerned wanted to install the VC from outside. He might be a former serviceman because the authorities were currently obsessed with the need for discipline rather than intellectual pursuits. Social circles have described the move as a conspiracy against south Punjab to deny its people access to top slots.