PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, who is also the chancellor of the public sector universities in the province, has stopped the Syndicate of University of Peshawar from its proceeding in a harassment inquiry against a senior member of the faculty and directed his inspection team to probe the matter.

The convener of the inquiry committee set up by Syndicate confirmed that the governor had intervened and set up another committee. Now their inquiry report was held in abeyance.

“The inquiry committee had finalised its report but chancellor misusing his powers has gone against the norms of justice and university statutes just to save that teacher’s skin,” alleged former deputy attorney general Muzzamil Khan, the convener of the inquiry committee set up by the Syndicate to look into the harassment charges levelled by a girl student against dean of faculty of life and environmental sciences Prof Amir Nawaz.

Mr Khan said that instead of allowing the probe committee to present its recommendations to the highest executive body (Syndicate), the chancellor tasked Governor’s Inspection Team to look into the matter.

“The chancellor under apprehensions and pressure from Jamaat-i-Islami has violated the norms of justice,” claimed Mr Khan, who felt it was not only unethical but also illegal to order another body to look into the issue probed by the committee ordered by the Syndicate.

Prof Amir Nawaz Khan, when contacted, said that since he was appointed dean of a faculty by the chancellor so only he could take any disciplinary action against him. He also brushed aside that he had any political influence. He called it just hearsay.

The student and other relevant people except the teacher, against whom the charges were levelled, appeared before the committee. The student, who had levelled charges, had been expecting justice so that in future girl students would not face the same situation in the University of Peshawar, Mr Khan said.

As leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly, Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan was quick to show support to an MPA when she raised the same case on the floor of the assembly but he has been slowing down the proceedings as a chancellor.

He had been issuing letters to UoP for ‘deletion of agenda item relating to proceedings against the teacher, from the upcoming Syndicate meeting’, since December because he had received appeal from the said professor.

“It is intimated that an appeal filed by the said officer to the chancellor against his suspension order is under consideration of the chancellor.

The governor/chancellor has therefore directed to desist from the proceedings any further in the matter until final decision by the chancellor on the said appeal,” said a letter issued on December 12, 2014 from the Governor’s Office.

An official, dealing with the media at Governor’s House, said that the senior teacher had appealed to the governor that allegations against him were malafied so the chancellor in his supervision ordered an independent inquiry into the matter.

However, it is pertinent to mention here that the UoP Syndicate had also representation from chancellor’s office as various secretaries are its members and they had endorsed holding this inquiry.

The governor in a recent directive asked the university to withdraw the suspension orders of the senior teacher in the case despite a clarification via letter dated 01-01-2015 from UoP that “the penalties have been defined in Section-6 of the University of Peshawar Employment Efficiency and Discipline Statutes 1977 whereby suspension is not a punishment and is rather part of the inquiry process.”

First dubbed as ‘misconduct’ in the report of a fact-finding team formed by Vice-chancellor Dr Rasul Jan, it was statement of the girl student which jolted the Syndicate to take serious note of the matter and ordered probe into charges against the senior teacher.

An official of UoP said that the senior teacher was suspended so that a fair and transparent inquiry, as ordered by the Syndicate, could be completed. However, the governor kept putting spanners by issuing directives to stop such proceedings.

Published in Dawn January 19th , 2015

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