PESHAWAR: The appointment of the project director for the establishment of the Chitral University has triggered a controversy with the academia claiming a violation of the laid-down procedure in the appointment.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak appointed Associate Professor Jamil Ahmad Chitrali of the University of Peshawar as project director for the newly-announced Chitral University this week.

The name of Mr. Chitrali was not in the list of the people proposed for the post, sources told Dawn.

Both the provincial and federal governments have announced the establishment of the Chitral University.

Under the procedure, the higher education department had proposed three names to the chief minister for approving one for appointment as the project director, the sources said.

CM makes Prof Chitrali project director though he’s not proposed by HED

The sources said the proposed names included Swat University registrar Dr Hasan Sher, head of the English Department of the Institute of Management Sciences, Hayatabad, Peshawar, Dr Ismail Wali and Prof Mumtaz Ali of the Government Degree College Chitral.

They said in the summary forwarded to the chief minister, Dr Ismail Wali was on top followed by Dr Hasan Sher and Prof Mumtaz Ali.

To the surprise of everyone in the HED, the chief minister appointed Jamil Ahmed Chitrali as the project director.

Currently, Mr. Chitrali is the director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Peshawar.

He also holds of the office of the Peshawar University Teachers Association’s president.

The sources said officials in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat had directed the HED to forward the approved summary to the chief minister yet again in which he had appointed the project director in violation of the laid-down procedure.

They said he (chief minister) was likely to withdraw his decision and might replace the project director.

The sources said the name of Mr. Chitrali was written in green ink on the list of nominees.

They said the officials concerned were speechless when they saw the name of Mr. Chitrali and felt that the chief minister better had directed the HED to mention the name of his choice in the summary for appointment of project director.

The sources said it was a rare move in which a person was appointed the project director though his name was not mentioned in the summary sent in for approval.

“It has never happened in the last many years that a person is appointed without the proposal of the HED,” a source said.

Regarding the procedure for the appointment of the project director for the establishment of a university, the sources said the HED proposed three names and the chief minister approved one of them for the post.

Asked whether the HED had notified the name of Mr. Chitrali as the project director or not, the sources said the department had yet to the issue that notification due to the controversy surrounding the appointment.

When contacted, adviser to the chief minister on HED Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said the chief minister had the authority to appoint a person as the project director for the establishment of a university without the recommendation of his name by the HED.

“The chief minister can disagree with the names proposed by the HED for the project director,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2017