KOHAT: The newly-appointed vice-chancellor of the Kohat University of Science and Technology (Kust) Dr Izamul Asar has refused to take charge and instead demanded the same post at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar, official sources said.

They said that the post of VC at Kust had been lying vacant for the last one and half years. They said that Dr Asar was supposed to take charge of his new assignment last month.

Zeeshan Bangash, a senior official at Kust, told Dawn on Thursday that three names were short-listed last year for the Kust VC, including Dr Zabita Khan Shinwari, Dr Nasir Jamal Khattak and Dr Asar. The governor gave nod to the appointment of Dr Asar, but he had given his top priority to the VC UET, Peshawar and then university of Abbottabad, he said.

Mr Bangash said that Dr Khattak and Dr Shinwari had spent two stints at Kust and perhaps that was why their names were not considered for the post. He said that the post of the VC would be advertised again within next few months.

He said that if the government lifted the restriction of appointment of a fresh candidate as VC then the problem could be resolved as Dr Shinwari and Dr Khattak might be ready to be appointed as Kust VC.

ILLEGAL SHOPS DEMOLISHED: In its anti-encroachment drive the district administration on Thursday demolished illegal shops and houses on Tanda Dam road.

A statement issued here said that assistant commissioner Mohammad Omar had served repeated notices on the illegal occupants of the irrigation land on Tanda Dam road to vacate the area, but they did not take the matter seriously. Consequently, the administration with the help of heavy machinery demolished dozens of houses, shops and hujras on the road and widened it for traffic, it said.

Mr Omar warned other encroachers to vacate the illegally occupied land voluntarily. He said that the operation would be expanded to the areas near Hangu road, Bannu road, KDA and Rawalpindi road.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2016