The Punjab chief minister (CM) has warned that no teacher with a third division should be appointed vice chancellor (VC) or dean of any university throughout the province in the future. Official sources said that it was brought to the CM’s notice that some of the candidates, even with third divisions or “C” grades in their academic career, including two Punjab University Deans, Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal and Dr Zafar Iqbal Jadoon, from Institute of Education and Research (IER) and Institute of Public Administrative Sciences respectively. They had applied for the post of VC, in violation of the Punjab government’s merit policy.
Meanwhile, another candidate, former PU Pro VC Prof Dr Jamil Anwar, faces serious charges after retirement of spending huge amounts of funds without observing the requisite formalities, and authorities have blocked his pension till the final decision. The CM ordered the concerned quarters to disqualify any candidate who did not fulfill the criteria and held third division or “C” grades on his academic transcripts. He said only the cream from the candidates would be called for interviews for induction as VC of the most prestigious public varsity of Asia.