Insider claims the staff has agreed to resume educational activities from Monday. PHOTO: FILE
A team of officials from the Governor House and Higher Education Department (HED) went to Bannu on Friday to convince protesters to call off the strike, which has led to the closure of University of Science and Technology, Bannu, for over 20 days.
More than 350 employees including administrative staff and faculty members, have boycotted classes, demanding regularisation of their services and an end to interference from Vice Chancellor (VC) Abdur Raheem Marwat in administrative issues. They have also complained about delays in the release of their salaries.
Besides the university’s employees, students have also threatened to protest outside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly and Governor House if their demands are not met and educational activities at the varsity not resumed.
The team of officials reached Bannu and met with the protesters in an attempt to convince them to resume classes.
A member of the delegation blamed the former vice chancellor for failing to regularise the services of contract employees during his seven-year stint. “The former VC could not formulate a statute to regularise contract employees. Once the statute is formulated, it is sent to the syndicate following an approval from the Senate,” he told The Express Tribune while requesting anonymity, saying he was not authorised to talk to the media.
“They (contractual employees) were demanding regularisation immediately, which is impossible since it needs to be done according to the rules and regulations,” he shared, adding all employees from basic pay scale (BPS) 1 to 19 have been asked to resume duties as their demands were being considered.
The member of the delegation said the protesters have agreed to resume educational activities on the campus from Monday, adding those who deserve to be regularised will be, while all other genuine demands will also be fulfilled.
“The protesters told us that they will resume activities by Monday but will have to talk to their fellows,” he said, adding the present government does not have any authority to regularise contractual employees in the absence of a statute.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2014.
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