Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan called on Governor Sardar Latif Khosa on Wednesday to try and convince him to accept the chief minister’s nominees for vice chancellor at three universities, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The governor refused to accept the argument by the minister and his team that it was now the chief minister’s prerogative to appoint the heads of public sector universities, but sources close to the minister said the government was confident that a compromise could be reached soon.
The appointment of vice chancellors to Bahauddin Zakariya University, Government College University and University of Education Lahore has been held up for several weeks, with the governor refusing to approve the chief minister’s nominations for the slots, and the chief minister refusing to recommend other candidates.
Intransigence
An official handout from Governor’s House said that the law minister had called on the governor to discuss administrative and security issues, but sources told The Tribune that Sanaullah accompanied by Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa, Law Secretary Abul Hassan Najmi and Higher Education Secretary Haseeb Athar – was there to outline the Punjab government’s position on the standoff over the appointments.
The sources said that Sanaullah, Najmi and Athar pressed upon the governor to accept the nominations, giving legal arguments as to why the chief minister should have the final say. They said that the minister and the governor first met one-on-one, after which their advisers were also called in to the meeting.
The sources said that Khosa, a prominent constitutional lawyer himself, rejected their position and presented his own argument as to why the power of final approval remained with the governor, who is also the chancellor of all public universities in the province.
Compromise
The sources said that at this point, the chief secretary recommended that both sides try to reach a compromise, a suggestion which was welcomed by both parties. The sources said that Khosa voiced annoyance that the Punjab government had not heeded his orders for officials to brief him on the flood situation in the Punjab.
Sources privy to the meeting said that the Punjab government representatives had left confident that a solution could be reached soon and that the governor would approve the chief minister’s nominations, perhaps by next week.
Official word
“The supremacy of the law and the constitution ensures the rights of the people. All political parties must set political interests aside for strengthening institutions,” the official handout of the meeting quoted the governor as saying, an apparent reference to his disagreement with the chief minister over vice chancellor appointments.
He said the president and prime minister were trying to reconcile all political forces in an effort to resolve national issues. He urged all parties to adopt a common strategy for the prosperity of the Punjab.
The minister assured the governor that he would be consulted on all administrative matters.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2011.
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