PESHAWAR: Five public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are facing a legal hurdle in the way of budget preparation for the next financial year in the absence of regular vice-chancellors and pro-vice-chancellors.

Normally, universities begin the exercise of making estimates of their expenditure and receipts for the next fiscal in the month of May, but that is not the case this time around as the posts of VCs, their principal accounting officers, are vacant, sources at the University of Peshawar told Dawn.

They said VCs headed their universities’ finance and planning committees (F&PCs), which were tasked with preparing the next budgets and plans for consideration and approval by the syndicate and the senate.

The senate, headed by the provincial governor, is the final forum for budget approval ahead of the new financial year that begins on July 1, according to them.

Official claims CM sitting on summaries for appointment of VCs and pro-VCs

Under the rules, in the absence of the vice-chancellor, the pro-vice-chancellor has the authority to chair the F&PC and syndicate’s meetings. The VC of another university being appointed as the acting VC in such a case can also chair the F&PC and syndicate meetings.

However, the higher education department has appointed neither regular VCs nor pro-VCs to the five government universities, including the University of Peshawar, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, the University of Chitral, Fata University Darra Adamkhel, and the University of Lakki Marwat, according to officials.

They said the University of Lakki Marwat has been functioning without VC and pro-VC for around one year, while the University of Peshawar, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, the University of Chitral, and Fata University had been working without administrative heads for the last two months.

Officials said that the provincial government either notified the appointment of regular vice chancellors or appointed pro-VCs to ensure the smooth functioning of universities.

They said the delay in budget preparation and the unavailability of regular, pro- and acting vice chancellors, the universities were struggling to manage their affairs due to the suffering of students, teachers, and other staff members.

The officials said the vacancies of VC and pro-VC had also blocked the issuance of degrees to students as there was no one to sign them.

They added that the delay in degree issuance had stressed out graduates, who wanted to take up jobs or apply for jobs or further studies within the country and abroad.

The officials said the University of Peshawar issued 100 degrees daily on average, but that had not been taking place since last March.

They also said the approval of examiners for the thesis evaluation of MPhil, MS, and PhD students had come to a halt as it could only be done by the VC.

The officials said the higher education department had completed the process for the appointment of regular VCs to 19 public sector universities in the province three months ago, but the provincial government was reluctant to either notify the shortlisted VCs or re-advertising those posts.

They said pro-VCs of the universities were appointed under Section 12-A of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012, which declared, “There shall be a pro-vice-chancellor of a university to be appointed by the chancellor from amongst the three senior most deans or teachers, for a period of two years to act as officiating vice-chancellor or acting vice-chancellor, as the case may be, in accordance with this section.”

When contacted, an official of the HED claimed that the academic search committee had interviewed all candidates for the vacancies of vice chancellors at 19 public sector universities in the province and forwarded a panel of three shortlisted candidates for every university to the government three months ago.

He added that the department had also moved summaries to the chief minister for the appointment of either pro-vice chancellors to the five universities in question or giving additional powers for administering their affairs to the VCs of other universities.

“If the chief minister approves those summaries, we [the higher education department] will notify pro-VCs in no time,” he told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2024