Financial watchdog: VCs urge govt to open up HEC chapter in Sindh

They also criticised the government for not giving them enough funds .


Our Correspondent April 10, 2012

KARACHI: The vice chancellors of Sindh’s public universities have chided the government for not giving universities enough funds and failing to maintain peace on campuses.

At a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting on Tuesday, they also requested chairman Jam Tamachi Unar to ask the government to open a chapter of the Higher Education Commission in Sindh to enable smooth coordination between universities and the commission.

The vice chancellor of Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Dr Abdul Qadir Mughal, said that a vice chancellor’s job was to deal with academic and research matters. They could not be held responsible for the worsening law-and-order situation on campus. He insisted that ensuring peace was the job of the state. The vice chancellors were not given a free hand to work. “If we take action against any student who breaks rules, we instantly get a call from someone influential,” he said. “There have even been cases of firing at vice chancellors’ houses. What can we do in this situation?”

The second major concern of the university vice chancellors was lack of funds. “The salaries of government employees are increased every year but the government does not increased grants to universities,” remarked Mughal. “PhD scholars in Punjab are given an allowance of Rs10,000 but in Sindh it is fixed at Rs5,000.”

Dr Naushad Ahmed Shaikh, the vice chancellor of University of Medical and Health Sciences  Jamshoro, said that provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa also gave grants to the universities but this did not happen in Sindh, where funds came from the federal government only.

The audit

The meeting discussed around 20 audit paragraphs for 2006-2007, of the expenditures of NED University, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro and Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam. It was presided over by Unar.

Audit Director-General Ghulam Akbar Sohu asked the vice chancellors about inviting tenders worth Rs31 million for equipment. He asked the vice chancellor of NED University about the expenditure of almost Rs0.3 million. Dr Abdul Kalam replied that it was spent on printing examination papers and the amount was approved by the syndicate.

Sohu said that Shah Latif University Khairpur, Mehran University Jamshoro, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Karachi University and NED University had paid around Rs16 million to their employees in advance but the amount had not been adjusted in the budget so far.

An irregularity of around Rs4.6 million was also found in the transport allowance. The vice chancellors argued that there was no rule which forbade giving transport to university employees who did not live on campus.  The deputy secretary of finance retorted that there was no rule which allowed them to give transport as well.

Meeting postponed

For the first time in four years, the PAC had postponed its meeting for Tuesday because three universities did not respond to the irregularities found in their expenditure. Unar said that irregularities of millions of rupees were found in the accounts of Karachi University, Shah Latif University, Sindh University, and Quaid-e-Awam University. But except for Karachi University no one else sent their response. “How can one begin an accountability process when we have no verified papers about the expenses?” asked chairman Unar. “Despite our reminders they did not present their records.”

Unar directed the PAC secretary to lodge a complaint with the chief minister, governor and the chief secretary about the attitude of public universities.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2012.

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