The Punjab government has rejected the summary of the Punjab governor regarding appointment of vice-chancellors (VC) of three public-sector universities of the province, Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to sources, the Punjab government rejected the summary, as “The CM is the competent authority after passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, as education has become a provincial subject and the governor should follow the CM’s advice regarding appointment of VCs. The governor has no right to turn down recommendations of the CM who is now the competent authority.”
The Punjab government on Tuesday sent back summaries regarding appointment of VCs of the Government College University (GCU) Lahore, University of Education (UoE) Lahore and Bahauddin Zikriya University (BZU) Multan to the governor asking him to appoint those people as VCs who the CM had recommended. The tussle over appointment of VCs at public-sector universities has once again started after the CM returned to the country.
A couple of days ago, the Punjab governor, who is also chancellor of all Punjab public-sector universities, issued a summary for appointment of three VCs, including Dr Khaliqur Rehman at GCU, Dr Jamil Anwar at UoE and Dr Zafarullah Ali Khan at BZU. According to sources, the CM’s Secretariat was annoyed with appointees of the governor, as these people were not the actual candidates earlier recommended by the CM.
The CM had recommended Dr Akram Kashmiri as the suitable candidate to be appointed as the GCU VC, as he was number one in the CM’s list, while the governor approved the appointment of Dr Khaliqur Rehman as the GCU VC. For BZU, the CM had recommended Dr Syed Khawaja Alqama to be appointed as VC while the governor appointed Dr Zafarullah as VC. For UoE, the CM had recommended Dr Faizul Hassan as the suitable candidate but the governor appointed Dr Chaudhry Jamil Anwar as VC for a period of four years with immediate effect.
According to sources, the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) sent the summaries back to the Governor’s House urging it to change its decision and appoint those candidates as VCs,who have been recommended by the CM. According to sources, it was against the constitution to turn down the CM’s request, as education was now a provincial subject.
Gone are the days when the governor had to do all the important jobs related to universities. Now it will be done through a proper channel and the CM himself will monitor the procedure. They said that the governor is only a signatory authority and the CM that will decide the fate of varsities in connection with appointments. According to Governor’s House sources, the summary was sent to the governor for reconsideration and it has not been rejected.
They said that the governor had not gone through the summary so far, adding that he would respond to it soon. According to sources, the governor was the competent authority and he had the right to choose people from a list of three candidates. “The CM himself mentioned three officials to be considered as candidates for the slot of VC. Now, if the governor uses his prerogative and appoints anyone out of those candidates as VC, what’s wrong in it?
It seems as if the CM is trying to make this matter an issue of ego which is not appropriate,” an official said. The Punjab government sent the summaries through the HED, which means that now the procedure was being carried out while keeping the 18th Constitutional Amendment in view.
