MULTAN, Jan 8: The Bahauddin Zakariya University's selection board will be seated for three days from Friday (today) to take up the cases of 229 applicants for appointments in various categories of teachers amid complaints of irregularities.

A BZU press release says the board meeting will be the longest ever in the history of the university. BZU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry will chair the SB while Justice Tassaduq Husain Jillani of the Lahore High Court, Punjab Public Service Commission member Ali Tahir Zaidi, Arid Agriculture University (Rawalpindi) VC Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood and Nishtar Medical College and Hospital Principal Executive Officer Prof Dr Shabbir Nasir will be the board members.

Sources in the BZU said there were serious concerns among the eligible candidates, as the university authorities had even issued call letters to some of those who had been declared ineligible during the scrutiny of their documents.

They said the "note of dissent" was put up on not other than the dean of the faculty of engineering and technology, Prof Dr Akhtar Ali Malik, against the consideration of the case of Dr Muhammad Tajamal for the post of professor of the electrical engineering in BS-20.

It is learnt that the dean had been in correspondence with the VC office for the last more than six months against what he believed illegal appointment of Dr Tajamal as an associate professor on a contract in June last year. Dr Tajamal was offered Rs70,000 a month.

In his letters to the VC office, the dean pointed out that the university had advertised the posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors through local newspapers on April 21, 2003, declaring June 25 as the last date for the submission of applications. However, Dr Tajamal was given a contract a day before the closing date, he added.

He said the appointment was unjustified because it was made before scrutinizing the credentials of other candidates for the same post. The dean had further pointed out that Dr Tajamal even did not fulfil the criterion as advertised because he had neither the basic qualification of BSc in engineering nor 12-year mandatory experience in the field of research and teaching. Moreover, the appointee could not provide the detailed mark sheets of his degrees he claimed to have obtained from abroad and the recognition letters of the institutions where he had worked in the teaching and research field. However, the university authorities did not reply to the objections raised by the dean nor did they put Dr Tajamal's appointment against high remuneration before the syndicate for approval.

Dr Tajamal is now a candidate for the post of professor of electrical engineering and the BZU SB will take it up on Jan 10. After being disappointed from the VC office, the faculty of engineering and technology dean has reportedly sent a letter to Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool to draw his attention towards the matter, stating that Dr Tajamal was among the candidates he had declared ineligible.

He informed the governor that he had received 100 applications for various teaching posts at the university engineering college and after a detailed scrutiny, found 38 applicants, including Dr Tajamal, ineligible.

He said consideration of a candidate declared ineligible by the dean was a clear violation of the rule 7 of the university act/calendar approved by the Punjab Assembly. It reads: "All the cases of appointments to be referred to the selection board should be submitted to the vice-chancellor by the dean concerned."

He urged the governor to constitute an independent inquiry committee to look into the matter. A part from the SB members, the dean and chairperson of the concerned faculty and department are said to have a say in the appointment process through the board.

The BZU VC has removed Prof Dr Humayun Pervez from the post of chemistry department chairman a couple of days before the scheduled SB meeting, a step which the sources see as a bid to oblige some favourite candidate.