–JEA says will announce decision if replies not submitted by Monday
ISLAMABAD: The 10-member committee formed to resolve the conflict between Quaid-e-Azam University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr Javed Ashraf and Academic Staff Association (ASA) has failed in performing its duties.
The committee was constituted on April 1 and is headed by Joint Education Advisor (JEA) Prof Rafiq Tahir. The committee was given 10 days to resolve the problem but it has been about three months and no development has taken place. The committee’s failure to resolve the issue has brought a bad name to the university.
According to sources, the university administration and ASA are deliberately causing delays. Sources also said that the committee is also buying more time to drag the issue further.
A senior official of the university that although both sides levelled serious allegations against each other, none of them provided solid proofs to the committee.
The official said that ASA sent a questionnaire to the VC Office but the VC has yet to respond to the questions. He expressed optimism that the issue might be resolved with the change of government.
Sources close to the VC told Pakistan Today that the VC is optimistic of a positive outcome within a few days. Sources said that the VC was wondering why the matter was being dragged despite him repeatedly giving detailed answers to the questions raised by ASA.
Talking to Pakistan Today, JEA Tahir said that ASA sent a list of 14 questions along with documentary proofs to the VC which he had to answer three weeks ago but he did not submit a definite reply.
Similarly, he said that the VC has also sent a list of five to six questions to the members of ASA and they are yet to submit a definite reply.
Tahir said that he wrote a letter to both parties on Thursday and gave June 25 as the deadline to submit their replies. He also informed the president in this regard and if they failed to submit replies, he will send a report to the president.
He said that ASA sent a document of around 2,500 pages with solid proofs against the VC; hence he should have given his dissent that it is not correct to put an end to the issue.
He said that if they do not submit definite replies by Monday, he would give a decision as per the available evidence. He, however, expressed hope that the matter would be resolved amicably.
When asked that whether the VC would perform his duties as the VC if he failed to submit a definite reply, he said that he would submit a report to the president and the committee does not have the mandate to take any such decision.
