The Higher Education Department (HED) has finally issued the notification regarding the permanent appointments of Vice Chancellors (VC) of public sector universities in Punjab, after a delay of one month.
Pakistan Today has learnt that Dr Tahir Amin has been appointed VC of Bahauddin Zikriya University (BZU) Multan, Dr Sameena Ameen Qadir VC of Fatima Jinnah University Rawalpindi (FJWU), Dr Talat Afza of Government Sadiq College for Women University (GSCWU) Bahawalpur, Dr Hassan Amir Shah of Government College University (GCU) Lahore, Dr Rauf e Azam of University of Education (UOE) Lahore, Athar Mehbbob of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering &Information Technology Rahim Yaar Khan while Khaleeq Ahmad was appointed VC of Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan. The appointments have been made for four years. The coveted posts remained empty for a long time as the HED had advertised a notification asking aspiring candidates to file their applications by April 28, 2015.
According to sources, the decision to appoint VCs for Lahore College for Women University, Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering & Technology and University of Sargodha has not been made yet.
At one stage, it was decided that the tenure of VCS would be reduced to two years and an extension would be awarded for another two years, on the basis of performance. This decision was criticised by the academia from all over the country who viewed it as a blatant attempt to rein in the public universities as VCs would indulge in the facilitation of politicians to get extensions.
Sources claim that the HED discarded the idea of reducing tenure because of legal implications as the department had mentioned in its advertisement that the post would be for four years.
The GCU Lahore remained without a VC for more than one month as the tenure of its previous VC expired on July 24. HED’s haphazard approach to the issue was obvious when a notification was issued appointing acting VCs in GCU and UOE only one day before the notification that appointed permanent VCs was issued.
An official of HED told Pakistan Today that the process was delayed due to a large number of applicants which, he claimed, numbered more than 1,000.
