PESHAWAR: The provincial government has failed to notify appointment of vice-chancellor of Shaheeb Benazir Bhutto Women University (SBBWU) despite the recommendation of Academic Search Committee two years ago.

SBBWU has been run by the previous vice-chancellor on acting basis since April 2018, adversely affecting the administrative affairs of the university, according to sources.

They said that four-year tenure of the regular vice-chancellor, Dr Razia Sultana, had expired on April 6, 2018 and after her retirement the provincial government allowed her to continue as acting basis till arrival of a regular VC.

On the completion of her tenure, higher education department advertised the post for which 13 candidates applied, sources said, adding that among them 10 were declared eligible by scrutiny committee of the department.

CM’s special assistant says panel formed to look into matter

The Academic Search Committee headed by known scientist Dr Attaur Rehman shortlisted six candidates for the interviews while their interviews were conducted on November 24, 2018, sources said.

The committee recommended to the provincial government a panel of three candidates with Dr Razia Sultana on top, presently serving as vice-chancellor of the university on acting basis, followed by Dr Gazala Yasmin and Dr Noor Jehan.

Section 12 of KP Universities Act, 2012 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.”

As per procedure under the law, the department forwarded the summary for appointment of anyone from the panel as vice-chancellor for a period of three years. The chief minister recommended to the chancellor to appoint Dr Razia Sultana as vice-chancellor of SBBWU.

However, the appointment processes couldn’t proceed further when the summary landed at the Governor Secretariat as the governor remarked that the tenure she had served as acting vice-chancellor during the appointment process of a regular one should also be considered in her three-year tenure.

The official documents reveal that if her tenure as acting vice-chancellor prior to her recommendation as regular one by the academic search committee is also considered then she will be allowed to work as regular vice-chancellor for a few months instead of three years.

During the official correspondence, the stance of higher education department was that she might be appointed with effect from March 15 2019 i.e. the date other vice -chancellors were appointed under the same process with her.

Kamran Bangash, the special assistant to chief minister on higher education, when contacted, said that the appointment of the SBBWU vice-chancellor was a bit tricky. The issue with her appointment was to consider or not the tenure she served as acting vice-chancellor, he said.

The special assistant said that the issue was also raised in one of the previous meetings of the provincial cabinet and it was discussed thoroughly. The cabinet constituted a high level committee to look into all aspects of the appointment and put up recommendations to it, he said.

The high level committee is consisted of minister law, special assistant to chief minister on higher education, secretaries to the law and higher education departments and the advocate general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Bangash said that the committee held its preliminary meeting a few days ago and proper recommendations would be forwarded to the governor after finalising the same in its second meeting.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2020