LAHORE, Jan 20: The Punjab governor is reportedly reluctant to give his assent to notify appointment of vice-chancellors of the Sargodha and Bahauddin Zakariya universities despite the chief minister has recommended final candidates for well over a month ago.

Sources said that the chief minister had recommended candidates, who were placed on second and third positions in respective panels for Bahauddin Zakariya and Sargodha universities, respectively.

They said that the Governor/Chancellor was not comfortable with the decision taken by the chief minister.

According to the law, they said, the CM had the prerogative to select any of the three candidates recommended by the Vice-Chancellors’ Search Committee. They said the Governor /Chancellor could return the case to the chief minister for review. But, if the CM stays firm and again recommends the same candidate, it would be binding on the Governor/Chancellor to give his assent and notify the appointment of the candidates.

It may be mentioned that the CM had interviewed the three candidates for the Sargodha University on Dec 11, while the candidates for the Bahauddin Zakariya University were interviewed in November last year.

When contacted, a spokesman said the governor was not available for comments.

Uptill now, it may be mentioned, the government had selected and notified three vice-chancellors — Prof Dr Bushra Mateen for the Lahore College for Women University; Prof Dr Munawwar Mirza for the University of Education and Dr Arif Ali Zaidi for the Government College University, Faisalabad, for a period of four years.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Saturday conducted brief interviews of three shortlisted candidates for the vice-chancellorship of the Government College University, Lahore.

The three candidates shortlisted by the Vice-Chancellors’ Search Committee in October last year were; incumbent VC Prof Dr Khalid Aftab, Dr Abdul Rauf Shakoori and Prof Dr Zakariya Butt.

It was learnt that the CM interviewed each of them for a few minutes.

The CM’s Secretariat is now expected to put up a summary for the selection of a VC. After formal approval by the chief minister, the summary will be moved to the Punjab Governor /Chancellor for his assent and consequent notification.

Still, interviews of selected candidates for the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) are pending with the chief minister.

The selection of a VC for the FJWU has become controversial with incumbent vice-chancellor Prof Dr Najma Najam questioning the integrity of the selection process and alleging that the education department had deleted her name from the panel. She claims that the education department had sent a panel of only two candidates comprising Dr Saeeda Asadullah Khan and Dr Asghari Maqsood for interviews and selection of a VC by the chief minister.

The sources claimed that the chief minister might name Dr Saeeda Asadullah Khan as vice-chancellor of the FJWU.