LAHORE: Two Punjab University (PU) Syndicate members have written to their colleagues (on Syndicate) calling for a thorough inquiry into “illegalities” committed in the contractual appointment of more than 400 teachers during the last couple of years.

Javed Sami and Shamaila Gul, in a letter (Nov 25) to the other members of the Syndicate, have pinpointed “irregularities” in the contractual appointment of teachers in different departments of the varsity during the last two years.

They claim that they have tried to take up the issue at other relevant forums as well but without any satisfactory response.

The letter says the varsity record shows 329 contractual appointments, with 77 such new appointments only for the period from May 3, 2013 till April 8, 2014 were made. “It is also not on record who made the earlier 252 of the 329 contractual appointments. The record for this time period shows that there were 13 meetings in total with only two proceedings bearing the official diary numbers, thus, putting the questions on the official capacity of such record. There are 222 appointments in this time period without the signatures of the additional registrar-1 and 98 appointments without even the signatures of the University Registrar.” Moreover, the letter says, the record from May 2014 states 478 total contractual appointments with only 85 new appointments raising questions on the truthfulness of the record for the contractual appointments at the university.

Two Syndicate members call for inquiry

It says: “All the contractual appointments have been made without the final approval of the Syndicate and in violation of the Article 25 of the Constitution. The University of the Punjab Act 1973 requires that any appointment in the said grades must follow the following process – a post must exist in the budget against which an appointment is to be made, it must be advertised, minimum eligibility must be determined by the dean of relevant faculty, selection board interviews the eligible candidates and makes recommendations to the Syndicate and the Syndicate makes the final appointments based on the recommendation of the selection board.”

According to the contents, there are several appointments which are made on non-existent cadres such as faculty member, senior teacher etc. “No approval has ever been sought from the relevant bodies like finance and planning committee, Syndicate, Senate and the Chancellor in order to appoint persons on the cadres in addition to those mentioned in the University Act 1973.”

It says there are many professors and associate professors who have been appointed in BPS-21 and 20, respectively, from outside the university without any evaluation as mandatory for such appointments.

Record shows the contractual appointments of few teachers who have already been appointed as Prof Emeritus in the university, says the letter which adds: “They are taking financial benefits from both the posts thus creating the financial loss to the university’s resources.”

“We request a thorough inquiry into these illegalities and irregularities in the appointment process of teachers that have caused huge financial and academic loss to the university. Besides, the record of contractual non-teaching staff should also be provided by the university administration to the Syndicate members to ensure the transparency as it is also requested by one of the Syndicate members MPA Majid Zahoor.”

PU Additional Registrar Dr Kamran Abid rubbished the allegations saying not a single appointment had been made in violation of the rules. “All appointments in question have been made through the Syndicate Committee,” he said and asked why Shumaila Gul did not raise any such issue when she was member of the Syndicate Committee.

Dr Abid further said the Punjab government’s recent audit had also found the hiring of the contractual teaching staff transparent. He said such propaganda was being made to tarnish the image of the vice chancellor. – ZT

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015