Committee to appoint VC for NWFP Varsity
Peshawar: The search committee for appointment of vice-chancellors of public sector universities has short-listed about nine applicants and called them for panel discussion today (Friday) for the office of the VC of the newly established Islamia College University (ICU).
Interestingly none of the serving professors of the Islamia College Peshawar, including the incumbent principal, Dr Rasheed Farooqui, was called for the panel interview. The position was formally advertised in the national dailies a few months back.
The advertisement had specified criteria for the position that the applicant must be a PhD degree holder and a professor as per the criteria of the Higher Education Commission. However, it was made clear in the advertisement that the governor could appoint anyone other than the applicants. About 50people applied for the post.
A meeting of the search committee that is headed by the Chief Secretary NWFP, Sahibzada Riaz Noor, held the other day to scrutinise the applicants and call the short-listed candidates for a panel interview, sources said.
The sources informed that those called for interview, included former vice-chancellor Gomal University and incumbent director VC Secretariat University of Peshawar, Ajmal Khan,
former principal Islamia College Peshawar and associate professor Nisar Muhammad Nisar, former vice-chancellor, Malakand University Jandar Shah, Muhammad Iqbal, Naeemur Rahman, Qibla Ayaz, Nazir Khattak, Hameedullah Marwat and Sakhawat.
About 15 applicants - all PhD and eight full professors - from Islamia College had also applied for the slot, but none of them was short-listed, which created unrest among the faculty members of the college.
Some senior officials expressed reservations over most of the short-listed candidates particularly Ajmal, Nisar and Jandar Shah. A faculty member of the University of Peshawar, on the condition of anonymity, said that Ajmal Khan was not even meeting the basic criteria for the position.
Ajmal Khan is neither a PhD nor a professor and how could he be eligible for the slot, he asked. However, another senior professor of the university opined that the PhD and professorship was not a criterion, but a guideline set by the HEC for the office of the vice-chancellor.
He said it was the total discretion of the governor as to whomever he wants, could be appointed as vice-chancellor. He added that the search committee, too, had no legal status as it was formed only to assist the governor (chancellor) of the public sector universities for appointment of vice-chancellor.
Nisar Muhammad Nisar, a senior faculty member, who requested anonymity, said that his PhD degree was not recognised by HEC and he got his retirement as an associate professor, while Jandar Shah, who remained vice-chancellor of Malakand University for seven long years, faced serious allegations of favouritism and nepotism in recruitments, financial embezzlement in different projects during his stint as vice chancellor.
Some professors criticised the search committee, saying that it has become a mafia. They said the appointments of vice-chancellors were made on political basis and the search committee was being used as a cover-up.
A professor remarked that at least men like the former Chief Secretary and Chairman Provincial Public Service Commission, Abdullah, who is known for his honesty, should quit the so-called committee. The News