SHC bars varsity from posting PhD teachers on administrative posts

Bench also orders Regional Transport Authority to conduct fitness tests of vehicles providing transport to students

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has barred the Sindh University (SU) from posting doctor of philosophy (PhD) qualified teachers on administrative positions.

The bench, comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Fahim Ahmed Siddiqi, also ordered the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to conduct fitness tests of all vehicles providing transport to the students.

The order was given in a petition filed by some civil society activists in the death case of Naila Rind, a SU student who allegedly took her life by hanging herself from her hostel room's ceiling fan on January 1.



The bench noted with dismay that despite such incidents, the university has failed to introduce a mechanism of receiving and addressing the students' complaints.

During the hearing, SU Registrar Dr Muhammad Saleem Chandio claimed that a complaint collection system through email and the social media is functional at SU. However, it emerged after the bench asked the SHC's information technology officer to check the SU defunct system.

"... the university claimed to have its own complaint cell which shall serve no purpose if it is only paper work or a formality to satisfy one," the judges observed.

The bench's amicus curiae, Advocate Sajjad Ahmed Chandio, apprised the court that many PhD teachers are occupying administrative posts in SU.



"An administrative post normally has no direct nexus [connection] with teaching. Hence, engaging such persons in administrative posts prima facie is not in line with [the] object," the bench observed, directing SU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat to ensure that no PhD teacher is given a post in the administration.

The registrar argued that the PhD teachers are given administrative authority in chairs and research project-oriented positions. But the registrar was asked to satisfy the court by submitting the number of such chairs and projects as well as the teachers posted in the administration and to justify how the PhD scholars were necessary for these positions.

The SHC was informed that around 30,000 students are enrolled in SU. However, the university's hostels provide accommodation facilities to only about 3,000 students. The remaining students, who are mainly from Hyderabad, parts of Jamshoro, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas districts, travel in the university's point buses.



Upon inquiry, the registrar apprised that the university has hired private transporters to provide a pick-and-drop service to the students from Hyderabad and Jamshoro. The court, while ordering SU to submit complete details of the numbers of buses and students, asked the Hyderabad RTA to inspect all point buses for fitness.

The secretary will have to submit the report in court, which will resume hearing on September 26.

The Jamshoro SSP Irfan Bahadur sought time from the court for submitting the updated investigation report in the Naila Rind case, in which a man, Anis Khaskheli, was booked for harassment and blackmailing.