MULTAN, Aug 1: The Higher Education Commission has reportedly forced the management of the Bahauddin Zakariya University to amend its statute ‘extraordinarily’ in accordance with the eligibility criteria laid down by the commission for faculty recruitment.
Sources said that the BZU management recently invited ‘wrath’ of the authorities at the Higher Education Commission, the sole body in the country to regulate higher education in the country, when it advertized posts for various tiers of the faculty under its own eligibility criteria.
The HEC chairman Dr Attaur Rehman took cognizance of the ad and wrote a strong worded letter to the BZU vice-chancellor Dr Muhammad Naseer Khan, urging him to withdraw the ad and re-advertize the posts according to the HEC’s eligibility criteria.
On failing to comply with what he termed the governance issues, the HEC chief warned the BZU VC of dire consequences that included suspension of the development projects and substantial cut in the recurring grants.
The warning was more than enough for the BZU management. But, advertizing the posts in the light of HEC’s eligibility criteria was not a simple thing to do because for this the university had to amend its statute. The only competent body that could do so was its syndicate.
The BZU syndicate had however deferred the issue twice in order to wait for the outcome of the ongoing negotiations between the HEC and the All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association viz-a-viz eligibility criteria. Sources said under the immense HEC pressure the BZU VC thought out a novel way to amend the statute.
He called a meeting of the university deans and in the outcome amended the statute in accordance with the HEC’s eligibility criteria using his emergency powers entrusted upon the vice- chancellor’s office under article 16(3) of the BZU laws.
The amendments were sent to the chancellor (the governor, Punjab) for final approval while a corrigendum to cancel the ad had also been issued.
Insiders say that the deans’ committee was just an advisory forum and could not work as a statutory body to recommend amendments to the bylaws.
The BZU Academic Staff Association has protested against cancellation of the ad and HEC’s alleged pressure to re-advertize it in the light of its eligibility criteria.
BZUASA president Dr Abdul Qadus Sohaib said that the HEC’s eligibility criteria should be implemented only for the postings and promotions carried out under the tenure track system (TTS).
He said forced implementation of the new criteria upon postings and promotions performed before the TTS would jeopardize the university education in the country.
In a statement, Dr Sohaib said that the HEC could threaten only the universities of backward areas like south Punjab.
He said the letter of HEC’s chairman was tantamount to interference in the internal autonomy of the university. “Such attacks reflect irresponsible attitude on the part of HEC authorities,” he asserted.