LAHORE: The post of the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) chairperson has been vacant for the last five months and the process to select the incumbent is unlikely to be completed soon.

Twelve public-sector universities in the province are also working without regular heads and the situation has led to academic and administrative problems. The vacant positions pose a challenge to the current government which promises to bring about reforms in the education sector.

The tenure of last PHEC chairperson Prof Dr Nizamuddin ended on Dec 16, 2018, and the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) secretary was given an additional charge of the post on Jan 11, 2019. The government later advertised the vacant position in January and the last date to apply was March 8. The additional charge of the post also expired on April 10 and currently the commission is without a head.

According to rules and a notification issued to the effect, the temporary charge was given for a period of three months. The Punjab Higher Education Commission Act 2014 says, “If the office of the Chairperson is vacant due to any cause, the Controlling Authority may nominate any member of the Commission as chairperson for a maximum period of three months during which period the Controlling Authority shall appoint a chairperson.”

PHEC sources said the working of the commission halted and it was creating administrative issues without the appointment of its head. The chairperson is supposed to approve pending bills and payments, various projects and renewal of contracts of employees.

Earlier, the HED had shortlisted 15 candidates for the post of chairperson of the PHEC and would have to announce the date of interview. A five-member search committee led by educationist Dr Attaur Rahman and having other members -- Lahore University of Management Sciences’ Prof Dr Arif Nazir Butt, Government College University’s former vice chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab, Shahid Najam and HED Secretary Sajid Zafar -- was constituted to appoint the chairperson of the commission.

The 12 universities working without regular VCs fall into general, women and specialised categories.

The general category includes the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan; the IUB; the University of Gujrat, the University of Narowal and the GCU Faisalabad.

The women’s category has the Women University Multan; the Women University Sialkot; the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) and the Government College Women University Faisalabad.

In the third category are the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore; the UET Taxila and the University of Home Economics, Lahore.

The government had interviewed the candidates of the vice chancellors for women universities in Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad.

A senior HED official told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that the process of interviewing the shortlisted candidates was being delayed owing to unavailability of the members of the search committee. He said the committee suggested to further scrutinise the shortlisted candidates for the post of the commission chairperson from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He said they would conduct interview for the post next month.

The official said they had sent the summary of appointment of VCs in three women universities to Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and waiting for nod to issue notifications. He said they would also start appointment procedure of VCs in other universities of the province soon.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2019