KARACHI, March 15: Engr Abul Kalam, the vice chancellor of the NED University of Engineering and Technology and the longest serving VC of any public university in the country, finally stepped down on Friday.

Dr Mohammad Afzal Haq has been named the new VC of the varsity.

Even at the 21st convocation on Feb 28, rumours were doing the rounds that it was his last day in office, as students rushed on to the stage not to miss a last chance to get their picture taken with him. Some had gotten rather emotional calling his tenure the golden period of the university’s history. They said that discipline was exemplary at the varsity owing to his presence. No one thought things would be the same after him but couldn’t deny the reality that he wasn’t getting any younger.

Born on Nov 25, 1923, he turns 90 this year. Having taken over as the VC of the NED varsity on Dec 10, 1996, he successfully completed 16 years in office (four four-year terms) last December despite not having a doctorate degree as per the Higher Education Commission rules. He was said to have faced and remained undeterred by all kinds of pressure from politicians and adversaries.

At the time of his getting the VC’s job, the NED University only had eight departments but it today has 25.

Speaking to Dawn on Friday, the university’s registrar, Engr Javed Aziz Khan, said that they had received a notification from the Sindh Governor’s House about a new VC on Friday.

About Engr Abul Kalam’s tremendous contribution for the varsity, he said: “After Pakistan Railways and the Karachi Shipyard, where he worked wonders, too, this university was a very easy job for this seasoned administrator.”

He added: “Discipline at the university was exemplary with him as VC. Earlier, due to all kind of disturbances and politics, the students used to finish their term in six years but with him there, it was as planned in four years.”

“It remains to be seen how the new VC Dr Afzal Haq will run the show, but he is an NED mechanical engineering graduate and had taught here earlier as well. He cares about the university,” he said.

The new NED VC, Dr Afzal Haq, will be leaving his job in Multan with a fertilizer institute to take over here. He was among the four names suggested for the position of which NED’s Pro VC Dr Muzaffar Mehmood was said to be the top choice. The other two were NED University Academy’s director-general Dr Nizamuddin Qureshi and Dr Mujibuddin Memon of the Mehran Engineering University.