NAWABSHAH, Aug 30: Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology (QUEST) officers on Friday boycotted their duties and held protest on the campus against what they alleged the pro-vice chancellor’s unacceptable attitude towards them.

The boycott was announced by the QUEST Officers Association which urged the Sindh governor and chief minister to take disciplinary action against Pro-VC Prof Saleem Raza Samoo.

Protesting members of the association wore black armbands and stopped work before holding a meeting to discuss Prof Samoo’s alleged threat of dire consequences to Mr Ashiq Joyo, president of the association, over some issue.

Mr Joyo, who led the protest and also chaired the meeting told the participants that while talking to him, Prof Samoo used abusive language and misbehaved with him.

The meeting, attended by QUEST Registrar Suhail Ahmed Soomro, Deputy Registrar Waqar Mujtaba Qazi, Finance Director Fazal Shaikh, Students Affairs Director Manzoor Panhwar, Project Director Khairullah Qureshi and other senior officers noted that officers and other staff of the university were not happy with the pro-VC due to his rude and disrespectful behaviour with his subordinates. It claimed that Prof Samoo had destroyed the university’s environment and the competent authorities should take notice of it.

Condemning the professor’s attitude, the meeting announced that a demonstration against him would be held at the time of the QUEST syndicate’s scheduled meeting on Saturday.

Taking a serious notice of the alleged threat to Mr Joyo, the meeting warned that if any harm came to him or any other member of the association, the pro-VC would be held responsible for that. On his part, Prof Saleem Samoo denied having misbehaved or threatened with anyone, saying that the association president’s allegations were absolutely baseless.