Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad has taken strict notice of non-payment of salaries to teaching staff at the University of Karachi, and instructed the university administration to resolve all conflicts over the matter.
The instructions come as the teaching staff of the university have threatened to boycott classes for an indefinite period and observe a pen-down strike over non-payment of salaries, and protest outside the chief minister and Governor House.
The governor, who is also the chancellor of the public universities, called a special session to discuss the matter and improve the financial situations of the university. It was chaired by Advisor on Higher Education Syed Wajahat Ali and was attended by Executive Director of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Prof Dr Raza Bhatti, Vice-Chancellor Karachi University Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser, and the finance directors of university and the HEC.
The session discussed the reasons for the non-payment of salaries. There were informed that the HEC was not responsible for the delay in payments, while the vice-chancellor was pressing the finance director since the past week to release the payments but to no avail.
The finance director was instructed to ensure that this should not be repeated again, and present a detailed report to the governor and the HEC over the financial matters of the university. In light of the report, the financial situation should be improved and a one-time grant should be awarded to the university.
Several teachers of the university protested over the matter and demanded timely payments of dues to teaching and non-teaching staff and transparency in the financial matters of the university.