–Prof Javed Akram says Fawad’s notification regarding Farooqui’s appointment illegal
ISLAMABAD: The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government appointed Dr Abid Zaheer Farooqui as Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZAMBU) acting vice-chancellor (VC) in clear violation of SZAMBU Islamabad (Amendment) Act 2018.
The notification, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, was issued by former prime minister’s principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad who was later charged with corruption and misuse of authority by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The notification stated, “Dr Abid Zaheer Farooqui is a professor of rheumatology as per list of faculty members at Annex-V of the summary.”
“It is a known fact that faculty members of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) are also faculty members of SZAMBU and Dr Farooqui is also one amongst them. Consequently, he has been appointed as pro-VC of the university in terms of Section 4 of the Act XV of 2013,” the notification added.
The notification stated that since the law does not bar reappointment of the pro-VC for one or more years, the reappointment of the present incumbent also does not seem to be illegal, therefore, he has been appointed as acting VC under Section 12 (9) of the Act ibid, which does not suffer from any legal infirmity.
The notification stated that as private practice is prohibited for the VC who is regularly appointed under Section 12 (1) or 12 (6) of the Act XV of 2013 and has a higher pay package in terms of section 12 (7) of the Act ibid, there is no statutory bar on private practice of the pro-VC.
Talking to Pakistan Today, former PIMS/SZAMBU VC Prof Javed Akram termed the notification of Fawad Hassan Fawad regarding pro-VC’s appointment illegal.
He said that the PIMS employee could not serve in the university under the University Act 2018 and the post should be advertised through due process.
Javed said that Abid was given the acting charge for mere 15 days, however, it was unnecessarily prolonged under malafide intentions to benefit blue-eyed people, adding that the VC could not undertake private practice.
Javed, in his letter to the then CADD secretary Nargis Ghaloo, demanded, “As you are well aware that my four-year tenure as SZAMBU/PIMS VC expires on January 6, 2018. I humbly request you to kindly initiate the process of induction of the new VC through the search committee as the process normally takes about 3-4 months to complete.”
However, he said that despite his letter no arrangement had been made for making a regular appointment.
In addition, the university faculty and students in their letters to the chief justice of Supreme Court (SC) and Human Rights Cell of SC demanded that SZAMBU be rescued from the unlawful control of PIMS faculty and illegal occupation of the Acting VC Dr Abid Zaheer Farooqi, requesting SC to help appoint a regular SZABMU VC.
They said that Farooqi was appointed on March 17, 2017, as pro-VC of the university for a period of three years. Professor Dr Javed Akram relinquished the charge as VC of the university on February 2, 2018, after completion of his four-year statuary term and Dr Abid by virtue of Section 12 (9) of the Act of 2013 assumed the charge as VC.
The administrative control of PIMS in pursuance to SZABMU Islamabad (Amendment) Act, 2018 (Act of 2018) has been entrusted to the federal government, and as such is not an integral part of the university. So, by virtue of the act, the VC must be qualified and needs to be appointed in accordance with law. Not only is Farooqi currently an employee of PIMS but does not have the relevant qualifications to continue working as VC, hence he cannot assume the office of acting VC. Therefore, his current position is legally untenable and of no legal status.
Moreover, they said that the position of Dr Abid as VC is in violation to the Section 12 (9) of the 2013 Act as he is no more pro-VC in pursuance to the Amendments in Section 5 and 9 of the 2018 Act, according to which, “All movable and immovable assets, funds, rights, privileges, liabilities, obligations and interests, which were previously owned by the PIMS have been again transferred in pursuance to the Amendment Act 2018.”
The letter reads that mismanagement of the affairs of the university by Dr Farooqi is self-evident as he maneuvered illegal appointments in PIMS hospital faculty on university’s registrar and controller of examination posts. Furthermore, he removed SZABMU’s employees from those positions and allocated it to the PIMS hospital employees in clear violation of the SZABMU Act, 2013.
At present, there are a few professors at the university with BPS-21 rank. Due to the current arrangement, they are made to work under a person, by designation a BPS-20 officer, illegally holding the office of VC.
Dr Abid Zaheer Farooqui could not be reached for his comments in this regard.
