In another manifestation of gross violation of merit the Punjab government is likely to appoint a junior professor as the head of the oldest dental college, De’Montmorency College of Dentistry, in the country, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources privy to the development revealed that Punjab Chief Minister (SC) Shahbaz Sharif has returned the summary of appointment of the senior most professor Dr Sohaib Abbas as the principal of the prestigious institution, three times, to “accommodate” a junior doctor. They further said both the other candidates Dr Riaz Warraich and Professor Waheed were not only junior to Dr Sohaib but had been his students also. The health department interviewed the candidates four times and recommended the name of Dr Sohaib, however, the CM returned the names and had formed a selection board with Services Secretary Sikander Sultan Raja, Health Secretary Captain Retired Arif Nadeem and UHS VC Malik Hussain Mubashar, who interviewed the panel on February 15.
As per further details, administratively there is no post of principal with the senior most professor being paid the professor’s pay and acting as the principal; and all this despite a new approved budget. Traditionally, the senior most professor of the faculty, regardless of his department, acts as the principal whenever the appointment is made. Currently, Dr Sohaib Abbas is the senior-most professor in the dental cadre across Punjab and heads the institution. Moreover, “seniority-cum-fitness” is the criterion for the appointment to the prestigious post, while fitness connotes the nominee being without any “allegations or charges or pending inquiry”. Dr Sohaib Abbas fits the bill perfectly as he has never faced any allegations during his time at the college.
Founded in 1929, the Punjab Dental Hospital started functioning in 1930, while the De’Montmorency College of Dentistry was established in 1934 on the same premises. Since then the Punjab government has not completed even a single project in dental sciences in the metropolitan despite an exponential population increase. As per details, the Punjab government has given no priority to this important field and the scheduled extension of the dental college has also been the victim of procrastination, causing further loss to exchequer.
Stakeholders further said the government had not done anything positive for the institution and touted the appointment of a junior professor as its principal as the final nail in the coffin of the oldest dental college in the country. Initially, the same had been done in another prestigious medical institution, KEMU (King Edward Medical University), where a junior professor had been made the pro-VC, with no regular VC being appointed just to “accommodate” him, they claimed. They added that the step was going to be another massive step backwards and would be detrimental to the education sector in the long run.
As per record, Dr Riaz Warraich has been sentenced under 16-MPO for hooliganism in the college and had faced allegations of plagiarism too. While, Professor Waheed, allegedly attends college only five days a year, remaining either absent from work or staying abroad.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Principal De’Montmorency hospital Dr Sohail Abbas said the government had appointed him on daily wages, and added that the health department has conducted four interviews with the selection board also interviewing the candidates recently. “I don’t know who they are going to appoint, but I am the senior most professor in the dental cadre in the province and do not have even a single inquiry against me in my 35 year career,” he added. Secretary Health said that the selection board had recently interviewed the panelists and it was “premature” to comment on the appointment. He, however, said that the appointment would be on merit.
