LAHORE, Feb 27: The Punjab University Academic Staff Association on Wednesday split over the issue of the governor/chancellor’s powers of reviewing the Syndicate decision and giving a new verdict of sending five faculty members on compulsory retirement.
The PUASA general-body meeting, chaired by its president Dr Mumtaz Salik, got embroiled in a heated debate at the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology auditorium when Dr Salik presented a resolution that said the chancellor was illegally interfering in the autonomy of varsity's statutory bodies and no university teacher or official should invite the governor to attend any function at the university, otherwise, the teachers would protest against his visit.
The general body unanimously adopted the resolution that plagiarism was a highly condemnable act. It, however, stood divided on the chancellor's action of reviewing the syndicate decision and sending five faculty members of the Centre for High Energy Physics on compulsory retirement.
As the members argued that the governor should have referred the case back to the syndicate to review the decision instead of making his own decision, a number of teachers contended that the PU Act of 1973 gave clear-cut revisional powers to the chancellor to review statutory bodies' decisions and give his own verdict.
The academics also split over the resolution that the governor should not be invited to the university campus and after a detailed debate, the demand was withdrawn from the resolution. However, the house agreed that the teachers had the right to protest and that they could stage protest when the governor would be visiting the campus.
Meanwhile, the PUASA news release said the general body described suspension of psychology department chairman Dr Mian Aftab and the governor's orders for compulsory retirement of CHEP’s faculty members “a mala fide decision as well as a bid to harass varsity teachers”.
The body said the governor had taken a harsh decision of penalising teachers while getting ‘required’ report from a two-member committee. It said it was a matter of grave concern that the governor had challenged the syndicate decision because it had representation of his three nominees as well as those of the education department and the Higher Education Commission. It also said the decision would create problems for the new vice-chancellor as well as the new political government.
The news release also said: “The PUASA general body has unanimously demanded that the governor should withdraw his decision, otherwise, the teachers would launch a protest campaign to pressure the government that it should respect university's autonomy”.
It said the university teachers unanimously condemned plagiarism and endorsed that it should be eradicated through legislation classifying its intensity. It also demanded that the HEC stop blackmailing universities by freezing funds and penalising teachers through the governors and allow the statutory bodies to perform their duties in a free and fair manner.
The news release demanded that the HEC should allow teachers to remove plagiarised research work from their curriculum vitae within a specified date instead of opening a Pandora’s Box. It would end an environment of harassment in universities and the issue of plagiarism once and for all.
COUNTER-STATEMENT: PU spokesman Dr Mujahid Mansoori told Dawn that the executive body had misled the media through its news release because the general body did not decide unanimously that the governor should withdraw the compulsory retirement orders.
He also said the general body did not authorise the association to prepare a protest campaign plan which would be followed by all university teachers. He said a number of general body members, including Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir, Khujista Rehan, Prof Dr Iftikhar Baloch, Prof Bashir Ahmad, Dr Hafeez Ahmad and he himself, criticised those elements that were making efforts to save the plagiarists.
Dr Mansoori said the Teachers Front executive meeting had regretted that university teachers committed plagiarism, but it welcomed the governor's verdict that led to the restoration of the dignity and image of the Punjab University the world over. The association, he said, also criticised the previous PU administration, led by Arshad Mahmood, for showing non-serious attitude in the high-profile case of plagiarism.
“There would have been no uproar, had the previous administration taken a decision that was acceptable to the teachers as well as the HEC,” he added.
