‘PU to revert termination of contract employees’

Varsity looking for way out of mess created by previous administration, says official

LAHORE: Punjab University (PU) will most likely take back the decision to not renew the contracts of those employees who were let go by the previous administration, said sources from the varsity on Wednesday.

A delegation from the contractual employees held a meeting with PU Vice Chancellor Dr Nasira Jabeen, said an official, requesting anonymity. “The VC assured the men and women of her support and said she will take the matter up with Punjab Governor Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, the varsity’s chancellor,” he added.

“It is looking for a way out of the mess created by the previous administration,” he elaborated.

As many as 600 employees in different basic pay scales (BPS) will lose their jobs through the decision taken by former VC Zakria Zakar.

As many as 49 contractual employees in BPS-16 and 17 have already been affected by the move which was initiated by after Zakar issued a letter to deans and heads of departments stating that no contract of the non-teaching staff would be renewed.



The letter was the result of another letter sent by the the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) to all vice chancellors of public universities in March, which stated that appointing contractual staff without proper advertisement was a clear violation of rules and regulations.

The HED had given a month’s deadline, asking VCs to submit a confirmatory report within the time frame.

The letter also asked the VCs to formulate checklists and implement them at every step of the recruitment process. It also asked that finance authorities be created at the varsities to issue pay slips with a copy of the newspaper advertisement. In the case of a violation, the treasurer or director will be held responsible.

It also asked all public sector universities to make the control mechanism an integral part of the appointments. It added that the universities must carry out an internal audit for existing pay roll data and identify such cases, reporting them to the HED.

However, apart from PU, no other varsity took any action on the directions of the HED.

When contacted, PU Spokesperson Khurram Shahzad said that the varsity will act according to the court’s orders and the government’s instructions.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2018.