ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: The newly-elected executive council of the Academic Staff Association (ASA), Quaid-i-Azam University, has rejected the ‘Federal Universities Model Ordinance’ enacted by the military government in its last days.

In its first meeting, the teachers’ body observed that the future of the QAU depended upon the ordinance which could not be accepted in its present form. The ASA said a fruitful discussion required a complete and comprehensive documentation. The government has not provided all the details. The ASA urged its members to collect pieces of information from wherever possible to formulate an effective response when it would be needed.

The meeting also raised the issue of the PhD allowance and demanded payment of Rs5,000 per month to teachers in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

In the resolution passed at the meeting, the body said, at present the allowance was being paid only to academicians in the faculty of natural sciences as per the government decision.

However, it said Dr Ataur Rehman, as minister of science and technology in the military government, had announced an increase in the allowance which earlier was Rs1,500 for all the teachers irrespective of the discipline.

Dr Ata, even after becoming the chairman of the Higher Education Commission, had promised to increase the allowance of the social scientists, but so far, it remains unfulfilled.

The association also demanded of the authorities concerned to pay the PhD allowance to all university teachers, who qualified for it, from the period 2001-02 when the plan was implemented in other government departments.

It asked the administration to declare the results of the elections for the syndicate seat reserved for professors null and void and hold re-elections at the earliest.

The council observed that the delay in the announcement of the results of the syndicate seat election “seriously undermined the credibility of the election process” and gave way to all types of rumours, such as “unethical compromises between the candidates”.

Dr Maqbool Ahmad from biology and Dr Aslam Beg from the physics department were two contestants for the slot. Both of them polled 30 votes each in the elections while a postal ballot deposited with the registrar was not opened and counted due to objections by one of the contestants.

Instead of announcing a tie or holding fresh elections, the matter ended after the two candidates reportedly compromised on a formula which included sharing the term between the two.

The ASA executive body observed that being the single vote, the secrecy of the postal ballot could not be maintained. Instead of violating the spirit of the secrecy or resolving the matter through, what it called, “unethical compromise”, the administration should go for re-election.

It called for revising the examination and passing rules, particularly, in its masters programme making them more logical. It also resolved to open a debate on holding aptitude tests for candidates seeking admission at MSc level which was a policy in vogue in the university’s earlier years.