Sindh Universities bill 2013: Acting governor gives assent to bill, teachers resent

Durrani has signed three bills, despite opposition by the MQM, while Ishrat is away on a personal visit.

KARACHI:

A day before Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan is expected to return to Pakistan, acting governor Agha Siraj Durrani gave his assent to the ‘Sindh Universities law 2013’, on Wednesday, making it an act in the province.

The bill was tabled and passed in the Sindh Assembly on August 19 amid protests by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Under the law, the control of public sector universities has been transferred from the governor to the chief minister. The law, which has now been turned into an act, has not only given full authority to the CM to appoint vice-chancellors, registrars, controllers and other administrative staff, but it also empowers the provincial government to determine and shape the admission policy. Earlier, these powers were held by the syndicate senate at the public varsities.



The development has come when the governor, who belongs to the MQM, is currently on a private visit to the UAE while his party expressed serious reservations on this issue. Speaking to The Express Tribune, the spokesperson for CM House said that, though the new law had become an act, it would only be implemented after the notification was issued by the Sindh government which was expected to happen soon.

Good news or bad?

Meanwhile, teachers across the province continued to express their reservations regarding the controversial law terming it an assault on the academic and administrative autonomy of the universities.

While faculty members at the University of Karachi (KU) and NED University of Engineering and Technology jointly rejected the amendment bill outright, their counterparts at the University of Sindh have expressed their reservation on specific amendments in the bill which they believe would weaken the autonomy of statutory bodies at the universities. “We welcome the implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment by transferring powers from the governor to the chief minister through this bill, but do not want our statutory bodies to be superseded by an external authority,” said, Dr Arfana Mallah, the president of Sindh University Teachers’ Association, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Prof. Syed Usman Ali, secretary general of the teachers’ association at NED University, said that the bill was unacceptable since it ruled out the academic freedom that the constitution of the country granted to all seats of higher learning. Meanwhile, a meeting of the KU teachers’ society (KUTS) executive council on Wednesday once again rejected the bill by declaring it a tool for interference in academic and administrative affairs of universities.

KUTS president, Prof. Dr Mutahir Ahmed, said that the acting governor’s assent to the controversial Sindh Universities Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was likely to amplify the existing disagreements between the provincial government and the academia. “The present government seems to impose its political decisions while tossing away the justifiable reservations of relevant stakeholders - this is not acceptable and will not work,” he said.



According to Karachi University Teachers Society, this law will seep into every thing and is against the fundamental concept of a university charter which gives full autonomy to manage academic and administrative affairs of the institution. Teachers’ unions in other public universities in Sindh, including the Sindh University, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro and the Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Muhammad Khan, have, however, lauded the legislation, terming the Karachi University’s education policy biased towards the people living in rural Sindh.

Repercussions

Two vice-chancellors of public universities, Dr Masood Hameed Khan of Dow University of Health Sciences and Dr Abdul Qadeer Rajput of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, are likely to be relieved from their responsibilities since the act does not allow any vice-chancellor to serve for more than two terms.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2013.