LAHORE, Dec 28: The Punjab chief minister’s 13-member committee, headed by Senator Ishaq Dar, has decided to keep intact the amendments made in the Punjab Universities’ Act bringing vice-chancellors under scrutiny, sources told Dawn on Friday.
“The committee did not yield to our demands,” a VC told Dawn.
The chief minister had made the committee on Dec 7 to review the amendments on the demand of vice-chancellors.
The Punjab government maintains that it had to amend the Acts after the Punjab Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee learnt that vice-chancellors had appointed their favorite teachers on top slots by giving additional charge to them, while under the act this power exclusively rests with the chancellor or the syndicate.
The Dar committee decided to withdraw powers of the vice-chancellors of creating and filling six-month posts. The committee said these powers rested with the syndicate and it could create and fill temporary posts for a period of six months.
Sources told Dawn that the committee stood firm that all Punjab vice-chancellors would be bound to report their actions under emergency powers to the Pro-Chancellor (higher education minister) and syndicate members in seven days and get the actions ratified by the Syndicate in 45 days.
Sources said the vice-chancellors on the committee objected to 45 days limit but to no avail.
The Dar committee included Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Sartaj Aziz, Zaeem Hussain Qadri, educationist Dr Zafar Qureshi, law, health and higher education departments’ secretaries, advocate general of Punjab as well as vice-chancellors of the Punjab University, the University of Engineering and Technology of Lahore, the University of Agriculture of Faisalabad, the Lahore College for Women’s University, and Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, Rawalpindi.
It also suggested that decisions by vice-chancellors under their emergency powers be ratified through a circular, if a meeting could not be called.
The committee also decided that the chancellor would nominate a Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PBC) in each university from amongst three most senior professors of the university for a term of three years. According to the amendment, PVCs shall perform such functions as may be assigned to them under their universities’ Act, statutes or regulations. The syndicate or the vice-chancellor may assign any other functions to the PVC in addition to his duties as a professor.
The Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education had also called for amendments in the powers of the vice-chancellors after learning that 350 appointments were made in the Punjab University against prescribed procedures.
The amendments were discussed by the Punjab cabinet and the Standing Committee on Education. The Punjab Higher Education Department had also invited all vice-chancellors to attend the Standing Committee meeting but no one attended it.
Punjab Higher Education Department Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir said the department would write to the governor, also chancellor, that it should ask vice-chancellors to get their orders regarding appointments made without observing codal formalities regularised either from the syndicate or the chancellor or the cases would be sent to the Public Accounts Committee.
Dr Munir said the department would also write to vice-chancellors to get their emergency power actions regularised.