KARACHI, April 19: The Karachi University Teachers’ Society (KUTS) has demanded of the government to immediately dissolve the recently formed search committee for selecting vice-chancellors for public sector universities. The teachers’ body is of the view that the ‘disputed’ search committee had been made functional when talks between teacher representatives of public sector universities and the HEC were still inconclusive.

The KUTS president and secretary, Dr Sohail Barkati and Sarwar Nasim respectively, in a statement on Tuesday said the latest appointments of two vice-chancellors at the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, and the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, through the search committee was an attempt to impose the Model University Ordinance through back door. They said it would be strongly resisted by teachers of public sector universities.

They expressed concern over the function and composition of the search committee and mentioned that the HEC chairman had assured teachers that the MUO, which among other matters, envisaged a search committee as well, would be held in abeyance till the finalization of talks with the FAPUASA. The appointment of two new vice-chancellors was a serious breach of the assurance, they added.