LAHORE – Government College University (GCU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Khalid Aftab’s 18-year tenure officially ends today and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has ruled out the chance of any extension in his tenure. University officials and educationists are wondering who will be given the charge of GCU’s additional VC, in Dr Aftab’s absence.
GCU sources said Dr Aftab was reluctant to hand over the charge to anybody till the formal appointment of a VC, for which the process has already been set in motion. 68-year-old Dr Aftab’s tenure has been extended twice and now he was hunting for a third time extension, which the Punjab CM was not interested in granting, said GCU sources.
The educationists are demanding that Dr Aftab should ‘ethically’ leave the charge, following in the footsteps of former VCs of Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) and University of Education (UOE), while GCU’s faculty and students expect a clear-cut decision from the Punjab CM about the fate of GCU.
An Higher Education Department (HED) official said currently GCU had forwarded three names for the post of GCU’s additional VC; they include GCU Sustainable Development Center Director Dr Ameenul Haq, GCU Dean of Sciences and Technology Dr Ikramul Haq and Dr Hassan Shah, son of Syed Ameer Shah, an MPA in the tenure of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Dr Aftab joined GC in 1967 and become the college’s principal in 1993. He took the charge of the first VC when GCU was declared an autonomous university in 2002. DR AFTAB STRUGGLES: According to an HED official, Dr Aftab did his best to get another extension but CM Punjab was ‘unhappy’ owing to the affiliations of Dr Aftab with former army rulers. He said that beside this, various issues at GCU including ‘favors’ given to GCU Registrar Faisal Khurshid by Dr Aftab was also a reason that forced the CM to avoid giving another extension to Dr Aftab.
He said that Punjab CM became more concerned after the ‘inappropriate’ performance of Deedar, an actress, on the university’s campus. He revealed that GCU’s faculty also wrote a letter to former Chancellor and Governor Salmaan Taseer (late) and CM in this regard and had requested to take notice of the ‘wrong doings’ of the management.
He said that Dr Aftab was not eligible to apply because the age limit for the post was 65 years while he is 68 years old. He said that former LCWU VC Prof Dr Bushra Mateen and Former UOE VC Dr Munawer Sultana Mirza set up a good example by giving up their seats. He said Dr Aftab also visited the Governor’s House last week, looking for an extension, but the meeting with the governor was not fruitful.
HUNT FOR VCs: Another official in HED said that department had already advertised for the posts of GCU VC along with the posts of VCs of LCWU and UOE. He said that the search for VCs of sixth different public sector universities of Punjab, including GCU had formally begun. February 4 was set as the last date for submission of applications and around 200 applicants have lined up for the coveted posts, he said. Now a search committee will select a permanent GCU VC and same committee will select VCs of the six public universities of the province.
GCU VC’s term of office ends today
