PESHAWAR: A difference of opinion among three departments about the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012, has delayed the appointment of vice-chancellors to eight government universities in the province.

Section 12(1) of the Act states, “The Vice-Chancellor shall be appointed by the Chancellor on the advice of Government from a panel of three candidates recommended by the Academic Search Committee.”

The officials told Dawn that the higher education and establishment departments’ interpretation of the law was different from the law department’s, so the appointment of VCs to eight universities had suffered a delay.

They said the vice-chancellors to public sector universities were appointed by the governor until now from among the respective panels of three candidates shortlisted by the academic search committee on the advice of the chief minister.

The official, however, said the law department had formally told the establishment department lately that the provincial cabinet was the relevant forum to recommend one of the three candidates finalised by the academic search committee for the appointment of the vice-chancellor.

Law dept says only cabinet can make recommendations, other depts insist CM authorised to do so

The official said the law department believed that the government meant the cabinet.

However, the higher education and establishment departments insisted that only the chief minister was authorised to recommend one among the three candidates recommended to the chancellor for the VC’s appointment.

Their opinion was based on Part-D(C) of the Schedule-II, which declares, “The Academic Search Committee after interviewing the shortlisted candidates shall recommend a panel of three suitable candidates to the Chief Executive of the Province who shall recommend one candidate to the Chancellor for approval.”

The academic search committee led by former federal minister for science and technology Dr Attaur Rehman had interviewed candidates for the top positions of eight public universities on Dec 24 and 25 in Islamabad.

From among 54 shortlisted ones, the committee later picked 24 candidates three for each university.

The academic search committee shortlisted a panel of three candidates for each university and sent their names to the higher education department for action.

The universities include the University of Engineering Mardan, Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak, University of Lakki Marwat, Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Women University Swabi, Gomal University

Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara University Mansehra, and Agriculture University of Dera Ismail Khan.

An official of the higher education department told Dawn that the law had a discrepancy, which would be removed soon through amendments of the relevant sections.

He said the opinion of the law department was likely to prevail over the higher education and establishment departments’ for being ‘much stronger’.

The official said the superior courts had ruled that the chief minister or provincial cabinet was required to recommend the top candidate from the panel.

He said the chief minister or the cabinet would cite valid reasons for recommending the candidate other than the top one.

The academic search committee has placed the name of Prof Iftikhar Ahmad for the Gomal University on top of the respective panel, Prof Jamil Ahmad for the Hazara University Mansehra’s, Prof Tahir I Khan for the Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Prof Johar Ali for the Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak’s, Prof Shahana Urooj kazmi for the Women University Swabi’s, Prof Masroor Ellahi Babar for the University of Agriculture DI Khan’s, Prof Mohammad Saleem for the University of Lakki Marwat’s and Prof Shahid Khattak for the University of Engineering and Technology Mardan’s.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2020