PESHAWAR, Jan 5: As the government is in the process of selecting a new principal for the Khyber Medical College, senior doctors have expressed concern over the selection criteria.

The post fell vacant on December 30 with the retirement of Prof Khalid Attaullah Mufti. According to an official of the health secretariat, names of three senior-most professors - Omar Ali Khan, Fazal Ahmad and Abdul Wadood - were under consideration and a decision will now be taken by the chief minister.

Faculty members of the KMC have urged the government to review the criteria, which had been followed for filling up of the post in the past. A senior teacher of the college said that the government's criterion for filling the post was flawed and arbitrary, which had enabled some of the professors in the past to use influence and get the post.

"Those, who got appointed through the government's backing in the past, had to toe the government line and do illegal things dictated to them from the top," he added. There were stances that many students were given admission to the college in violation of the rule of merit, he said.

According to procedure, the filling of the post was being done on the basis of seniority-cum-competence, which was extremely vague. "There is no yardstick at the disposal of the government to judge the competency of a professor.

This can be done in consultation with some of the 200 members of the faculty," said a professor. He said that some professors, being juniors, had attained BPS-20 because of availability of the posts of professors in their respective departments.

For instance, a doctor, who was appointed a medical officer in a department of the college, where he got rapid promotion and reached the professorship after serving for 15 years, he said.

"On the contrary, some of the doctors despite being seniors had attained the post of professor after 20 years, because of non-existence of the post in their respective departments.'' But the government consider those for the principal's slot, who became professors earlier," said an office-bearer of the KMC Teachers' Association.