FAPUASA rejects new HEC ED’s appointment

Says civil servant can’t be assigned post per HEC Ordinance

ISLAMABAD:

A key body of academic staff of universities rejected on Sunday the appointment of a bureaucrat as the executive director of the Higher Education Commission.

Last week, the Higher Education Commission had announced the appointment of Shaista Sohail, a basic pay scale (BPS) grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Services, as the new executive director at the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Central President Dr Sohail Yousuf rejected the appointment, terming it a violation of the HEC Ordinance 2002, and stipulated rules of the commission.

Yousuf said that only the 18-member body of HEC has the authority to appoint an executive director of the commission.

He said that the HEC administration had also violated the decision of the Supreme Court of 2011 in which the then chief justice had annulled the appointment of former federal secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and appointed 18 members to the commission.

The HEC was given powers to appoint a new executive director but as per the rules laid down by its board. However, the FAPUASA president contended that Sohail had been appointed without any advertisement of the post or meeting other set criteria.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2020.