LAHORE: The Academic Staff Association of the Government College University on Thursday wrote a letter to Governor Chaudhry Sarwar to point out probable appointment of head of any other university as acting vice chancellor of their institution.

“Sir, it’s not practically possible for one person to handle the affairs of two big universities,” said GCU ASA President Prof Dr Hamid Mukhtar in the letter that demanded the Punjab government give charge to any of the 25 professors currently serving the GCU till the appointment of a regular VC.

The four-year term of GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah completed on Aug 26.

The ASA president said the university’s academic and administrative staff had reservations on the summary because it’s not practically possible for one person to handle the affairs of two major universities. He said the GCU was one of the oldest educational institutions of the country and had a strength of 13,000 students and 1,500 staff and faculty members and “it’s neither advisable nor practically possible for any VC to remotely operate its functions.”

“Moreover, the law/acts approved by the Punjab Assembly provide separate VC for every university. It will not be legal and appropriate in this case to give charge of GCU to VC of some other university,” Prof Mukhtar said.

He said it was a crucial time for the GCU as admissions to FA/FSc, BA/BSc, MPhil and PhD were in process and the university needed a full time vice chancellor who remains available to faculty and administration during the complete office hours and may be after that.

The ASA requested the governor to intervene so that a right decision could be made.

Vice chancellors of the University of Education Lahore, the Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur, and the Government Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi have already retired and the posts are vacant.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2019