FAISALABAD: The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) neither has a regular or acting vice chancellor (VC) nor a pro-VC to run its affairs since June 14.

Dr Iqbal Zafar had been made the acting VC by the Punjab government, while the slot of a regular VC has been vacant since the retirement of Dr Iqrar Ahmed.

Later, the government had appointed Dr Ahmed as the acting VC however he was removed following directions of the Lahore High Court.

On May 9, 2017, the Punjab government had appointed Dr Zafar as the pro-VC till the date of his superannuation on June 14. Dr Zafar was also serving as the dean of faculty of social sciences but Dr Ahmed had removed him from this slot following his appointment as the pro-VC.

Similarly, Dr Zafar was not given any office to perform his duties as the pro-VC. Dr Ahmed defended his order citing the university act.

Now applications for the new VC were being processed by the Punjab government. On the other hand, the university act provides for the provincial government to appoint any senior teacher of the institution as pro-VC of the university.

The Academic Staff Association held a meeting with its President Amer Jamil recently where the participants said the authorities must look into the issue of appointment of head of the university urgently.

They said it was a matter of grave concern that the university had no head for over a month.

“The faculty, staff and students are getting frustrated. Promotions, annual increments, selections, decisions on inquiries etc are pending as a syndicate meeting has not been conducted for more than a year now. Moreover, there are more than 200 memoranda of understanding with foreign institutions being affected, thus building an atmosphere of lack of confidence as student-staff exchange is an important component of such agreements,” reads a letter the association sent to the Punjab government.

“More importantly, annual budget of the university must be approved by the university senate. If the budget is not approved soon, salaries of staff and pensions may not be paid creating unrest among the university staff and faculty,” it adds.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2018