Open-ended: NA passes bill for NUST rector appointment

Opposition claims amendment to help hire ‘blue-eyed boy’

ISLAMABAD:

The lower house of parliament has passed the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) amendment bill for the appointment of rector amid the opposition terming it an attempt to hire ‘someone already selected’ for the position.

The tenure of the current NUST rector has already expired and he is working ‘until further orders’, until the pro-chancellor (the army chief) appoints someone. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology had passed the bill with the proposed amendment on February 19.

The bill proposed substituting ‘engineering qualifications and experience’ for the appointment of rector with ‘qualifications and experience as prescribed by the [NUST] board’.

Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid presented the bill in the house on Thursday, but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Dr Shireen Mazari was the first to object to the bill, saying that qualifications for such posts were made public everywhere in the country.

“Who knows if a person with a BA degree is appointed!” she said. “But it seems [the amendment] is for somebody who has no engineering qualification.”

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Naveed Qamar added that the amendment “will not only keep the appointment ambiguous but make it confusing that no proper qualification is needed for such posts”.

He said NUST was a premier institution that did not merit allowing open-ended appointment of a person with no relevant qualification, as “it will destroy the institution”.

Hamid, however, countered the argument: “Over the years the university has evolved from engineering to multiple disciplines; and the Air University, Bahria University and Comsats Institute of Information Technology, etc have their own boards for appointing their head or vice chancellor.”

PTI MNA Shafqat Mehmood said: “The whole system is being destroyed to accommodate someone who has already been finalised.”

His party colleague Dr Mazari rose from her seat again to stress that the appointment should be on merit and quality should be ensured, as in civilian varsities there are search committees for this job. “The board cannot be entrusted with [such] powers just because it is controlled by the army.”

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party MNA Mahmood Khan Achakzai asked whether the post would be advertised, otherwise they would move the court against the appointment. “After all, standards should not be compromised.”

When the NA speaker asked the house about passing the bill, the treasury benches approved while the opposition — the PPP and the PTI — objected with a resounding ‘no’ in unison. The speaker announced the bill to be passed as the majority of the house agreed, but the opposition demanded another vote. A few minutes and a recount later, the speaker announced the bill to be passed, as 61 votes were in favour and 35 against it.


Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2016.