Dragging their feet: Hiring of VCs for KU, DUHS delayed

CM has yet to give the go-ahead for the appointment of permanent VCs

KARACHI: What is the fate of vice-chancellors (VCs) of public sector universities after the legacy of the longest serving governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ebad, who was also chancellor of the universities, ended last week after 14 years?

The appointment of the two vice chancellorships of the biggest public sector universities in Karachi — Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and the University of Karachi (KU) — have been stuck in limbo since former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain's arrest, as he was the convener of the search committee that assists in the appointment of the VCs.

While the VCs were given special honours by Dr Ebad, the appointments were dragged for as long as a year for DUHS and more than 10 months for KU.



KU VC Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser, whose tenure as varsity head ended on February 9, was given the charge of acting VC on February 9, 2016 and since then has been serving as the head of the university.

The process of appointment of the VC for KU has been ongoing for the last 11 months; an advertisement was published in this regard on January 27. The short-listing, interviews and listing of the top three candidates was also completed but the appointment is still in the pipeline, despite three top candidates being selected.

The three names, which were finalised after interviews conducted by the five-member search committee headed by Deedar Hussain Shah, have been sent to the chief minister and the decision is now in his hands.

"We have conducted the interviews and that day the recommendation and summary was sent to the CM," said member of the search committee Mazharul Haq Siddiqui.

Short-listed candidate for KU and aspirant for Sindh University's VC's post, Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat, said he is aware of the short listing but has not been officially informed of any decision in that regard yet. "I will serve anywhere the government will ask me to perform, as I am a government employee," he said.

Karachi University Teacher's Society president Dr Shakeel Farooqi  said that the government of Sindh has created a big mess, as the search committee that interviewed the candidates comprised political and irrelevant people. Even then the recommendations by the search committee were kept in abeyance, he lamented.

"We believe the government was in no way prepared to undertake the responsibility of the universities and excited and over ambitious policy makers brought in faulty amendments in the Sindh Universities Act and now all the universities are paying the price at the cost of the stakeholders, who are teachers, students and parents," he explained, demanding the amendments in the Sindh Universities Act be withdrawn.

DUHS's dilemma

Meanwhile, the matter of the appointment of DUHS's VC was taken to the judiciary when Prof Dr Masood Hameed Khan's second tenure as VC ended on September 15, 2015 and Prof Dr Noshad A Shaikh was appointed VC out of turn by Dr Ebad. Prof Dr Saeed Qureshi, who was at the top of the list of recommended VCs by the search committee, was not even considered.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) filed a petition and won the case, yet Dr Khan was appointed acting VC but he is performing his duties as the full time VC in the university. PMA filed another petition stating that, according to the laws governing universities, no candidate can be VC of any university if he has completed his two terms as VC of any university in the province but Dr Khan is on his third term.

"The court restricted Dr Khan from taking any major decisions relating to the university and said he should only act as the acting VC but he is violating the rules," said former PMA general secretary Mirza Ali Azhar.

PMA general secretary Dr Qaiser Sajjad said that the fight was and still is for merit. "There is no issue, the court case can be resolved out of court and the number one candidate on the list can be appointed as the VC of DUHS," he suggested, appealing to the CM to take notice of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2016.