FAISALABAD: The administrative affairs of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) are suffering badly as four major slots - vice chancellor, registrar, treasurer and controller of examination - are lying vacant.

It’s a conflict of interest that the treasurer has been given the assignment of registrar, who is custodian of all records of the university.

These apprehensions have been raised by the Academic Staff Association (ASA) of UAF.

The slot of vice chancellor fell vacant on Feb 4 when the Lahore High Court had removed Dr Muhammad Ashraf declaring his appointment against merit.

UAF former VC Dr Iqrar Ahmed had filed a writ petition seeking his appointment [as VC] as he was on top of the list forwarded by the search committee to the Punjab government.

The seats of registrar, controller and treasurer have been lying vacant for a couple of months. Muhammad Hussain had been serving as the registrar who retired after attaining the age of superannuation. The controller of examinations is a key slot of the UAF as he performs the important task as stopgap arrangements.

Currently, Dr Tahir Siddiqui is serving as the acting controller of examinations.

Similarly, former treasurer Umer Saeed is serving as a treasurer although his regular tenure expired in December last, ASA secretary Dr Anjum Zia said, adding now he is looking after the affairs of registrar and the treasurer as well.

Dr Zia talking to Dawn said the university was considered as Asia’s top agricultural institution [which is now working without VC, a registrar, controller of examinations and a treasurer].

He said: “The faculty and staff of the university are facing stress and uncertainty. There is a crisis in the university for the issuance of salaries and funds in various programmes and projects, signing of MoU, hiring/promotions and many important documents are waiting for regular VC.”

The ASA on behalf of all faculty members and staff has requested the government to appoint a regular vice chancellor.

The treasurer has been assigned with additional duties of registrar which is an extra burden. “This is another serious concern that a person dealing with finances is also running the university as a registrar which shows a clear conflict of interest,” he added.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to fill all vacant seats on merit to resolve the issues of the university.

“The pending day-to-day matters are causing inconvenience to faculty members as official letter, NOCs, leave and other documents are getting delayed. The treasurer, registrar and controller of examination seats were also advertised with no further progress,” he said.

“How will a university contribute to agricultural research and economy without its administrative leadership,”? the ASA secretary said.

Next month, he said the university employees would face financial crisis when nobody would be available to sign the salary slips.

ROBBER KILLED: An alleged robber was killed in firing by his accomplices on Sunday night in the remit of Thekariwala police.

Submitting an application to the police, Mohammad Kashif of 66-JB, Chandra, said he had set up a grocery shop where three robbers came. He said one of the suspects stood outside the shop and two started looting cash.

He said he had managed to overpower a robber when they were trying to escape with the booty. One of them opened fire in a bid to get his accomplice released, however, the bullet hit him (robber) on back side of his head.

The robber breathed his last on the spot while his accomplices managed to escape, the FIR reads.

A police officer said the deceased was wanted in some robbery cases and he had been identified through CCTV footages. Further investigation is under way.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2020