PESHAWAR:April 27: Terming the meeting of the senate of Islamia College University (ICU) being held today illegal, the senior most faculty members of the institution have demanded the chancellor to withdraw the notification about extension in tenure of some members of the body in violation of the University Act and postpone the meeting till appointment of valid members.
A group of deans and chairmen of various departments of the university told The News that the three-year tenure of some of the members of the 21-member senate of the university expired in December 2011.
According to the University Act 2009, neither any extension could be given to the members of the body nor could the teachers of the university be appointed as senators for second consecutive term. The chancellor and governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, issued a notification giving extension to five retired members of the senate of the university in violation of the University Act.
The senior faculty members opined that the ICU had already suffered a lot due to steps taken in violation of the Act in the past. They alleged that soon after the establishment of the university, most of the appointments, postings and other things were made in violation of the Act, which adversely affected the smooth functioning of the institution.
They said another violation on the part of the chancellor, who is a custodian of the law, would aggravate the situation further and set a disastrous precedent. The teachers said the governor could appoint members other than the ex-officio ones on the recommendation of the representation committee and being the chairman of the body he had the discretion to nominate members of the said committee.
They added that it would be appropriate for the chancellor to give approval to the representation committee instead of illegally extending the tenure of the senators.They said certain people with vested interest were bent upon manipulating the illegal presence of the retired members of the Senate for getting illegal approval. They demanded the chancellor to review extension in the tenure of the retired members of the senate and order immediate withdrawal of the notification to this effect in order to save the seat of learning from holding illegal meetings with invalid members.
They argued that decisions of such a meeting would have no validity and would be liable to be challenged in the courts. The agenda for the senate meeting is to formulate the representation committee and hold the selection board.The news.