PESHAWAR: Temporarily though, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor has blocked a move of the provincial government to drastically change the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012.

Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, who is also the chancellor of the universities in the province, has returned the draft of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2014 to the government with the advice to improve it.

According to a handout issued here on Monday, the governor said after detailed analysis of the proposed amendments, he advised that a broad-based committee be constituted for revision of the whole Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012.

The provincial government had submitted a summary to the governor lately for approval of the proposed amendments to the law.

When contacted, higher education minister and pro-chancellor of the universities Mushtaq Ghani said the governor could return the bill and that the proposed committee would give its opinion on the matter.

“The next step will be to table it (bill) in the provincial assembly for passage,” he said, explaining the governor’s constitutional powers to give advice on a proposed law.

Under the Constitution, in performance of his function, the governor shall act (on and) in accordance with the advice of the cabinet (or chief minister).

The governor has the power to return the proposed law or any summary but the Constitution says, “provided that within 15 days, the governor may require the cabinet or, as the case may be, the chief minister to reconsider such advice, whether generally or otherwise, and the governor shall (within ten days) act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration.”

The governor has advised the provincial government this time to form a committee to review and analyse the draft law.

However, interestingly, almost a week ago, the governor himself being the chancellor of the universities too had set up a committee headed by the provincial chief secretary to examine the draft law and asked it to report to him within 15 days.

However, the situation changed when the governor found the draft of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Amendment) Universities Act 2014 on his table: he’d to either use his constitutional power to approve it or return it to the provincial government.

The governor used the second option, which shows his reservation about the proposed amendments to the law.

Mushtaq Ghani said higher education had incorporated the feedback of the working groups on reforms in higher education and got it approved from the chief minister.

The draft, since cabinet was not sitting, was sent to the governor in an effort to get it approved hurriedly.

However, the governor put a spanner in the works by using his constitutional powers. He also advised that the draft be reviewed in detail as he thought it needed improvement.

However, Mushtaq Ghani insisted the draft law was fine.

His department had proposed some changes like reducing the number of Senate members and inclusion of more people from outside academia to break the monopoly of the vice chancellor.

The higher education department also has proposed and widened the criteria for the appointment of the vice chancellor of a university and has proposed that he/she should be any suitable academician, administrator or any suitable person the search committee finds eligible.

The new draft law has also proposed that tenure of the vice chancellors should be reduced from four years to only two years term to ensure efficiency.

However, the vice chancellors of 19 public sector universities, in a meeting held last week, criticised the proposed changes.

In a statement, they said they disowned the ‘manipulated reforms’ and that ‘all this is being manipulated at the behest of a few politically motivated individuals who are bent on setting personal scores with some vice chancellors at the cost of institutions of higher education.’

Published in Dawn, November 18th , 2014