PESHAWAR, Dec 9: Violation of rules has been detected in the upgradation of senior clinical staff of colleges of the Khyber Medical University, according to sources.

“The Khyber Medical University administration has upgraded 55 professors of clinical medical sciences from BPS-20 to BPS-21 in violation of the rules,” the sources said.

They said the promotion of these teachers should have been approved by the syndicate of the KMU, but as the syndicate itself had not been constituted, the decision was illegal.

They said that the KMU was also upgrading the posts of senior registrars, assistant professors and associate professors, according to rules set forth by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). But they said that the KMU’s administration was adamant to upgrade the teaching staff of the clinical medical sciences departments and ignore the teaching staff of the basic medical sciences of its constituent colleges.

An official of the KMU told Dawn that the first meeting of the Senate held three months ago had recommended the upgradation of the clinical medical science teachers.

The recommendation to upgrade teachers of the clinical sciences, he said, was approved by a select committee comprising deans.

According to the HEC’s rules, he said, the teachers of the basic medical sciences who had not done their PhDs or FCPSs were not entitled to promotions.

The official said that the Senate’s meeting had also recommended the upgradation of the posts of basic medical sciences’ teachers to the Syndicate. After the formation of the syndicate, the upgradation of more than 100 teachers of the basic medical sciences would be taken up.

“Once the syndicate approves their upgradation, the KMU administration will upgrade them,” he said.

However, the affected teachers of the basic medical sciences argued that the upgradation of the clinical medical sciences’ teachers had been approved by the deans’ committee instead of the syndicate.

“There is no provision of the deans’ committee in the KMU Act 2006,” they said. The deans’ committee, they said, should also have approved their upgradation along with the upgradation of the teachers of the clinical sciences.

Furthermore, they said, the university’s administration was in the process of nominating members of syndicate instead of election. They said that this would affect teachers of the constituent colleges of the university.

According to rules laid down in the Khyber Medical University Act, 2006, the administration was required to appoint four members from the teachers of the KMU’s constituent colleges through election.

“No election has been held to elect four members of the syndicate to represent lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors,” said sources at the Khyber Medical College (KMC), one of the constituent colleges of the KMU.According to Clauses (7), (8), (9) and (10) of Section 21 of the University’s Medical Act, 2006, four members of the syndicate, one each from professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers, should be elected by teachers of the KMU from among themselves.