Power struggle: IBA Sukkur runs a year without permanent head

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Sukkur, a public sector degree-awarding institute chartered by the Sindh government, while embroiled in a political tussle, has been without a permanent head for the past 11 months.

Sources privy to the developments say certain political factions in the province have been actively obstructing the decision to transfer the authority to appoint the institute’s vice chancellor to the Sindh government.

Owing to this, the controlling authority of government universities, Sindh chief minister, has been unable to amend a controversial edict that influences the appointment of the university’s head.

Under the Sukkur IBA University Act 2017, the authority to elect the vice chancellor rests with the said institution instead of the government.

However, the Sindh cabinet had approved legislation to amend the Act and delegate the power to appoint a new vice chancellor to the provincial government.

The decision was supposed to be presented in a meeting which has been in the works for over a year, while Sindh’s political forces, including those in Sukkur, have been strongly contesting the transfer of power. Since founding vice chancellor of the varsity, Dr Nisar Siddiqui, passed away in June 2020, Dr Mir Muhammad Shah has been serving as the acting vice chancellor.

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The provincial cabinet had approved the amendment pertaining to the procedure for appointment of vice chancellor and other changes in the IBA Sukkur Act on October 13, 2020. A summary of the draft amendment to the Act was approved and was to be forwarded to the law department.

The draft was presented to the cabinet by Universities and Boards Secretary Dr Riazuddin. Commenting on the matter, IBA Sukkur Registrar Zahid Hussain Khand said that the draft was sent to the Sindh Assembly, following the cabinet’s approval but it is yet to be tabled in the house for final approval and legislation.

“The university has gone without a permanent head for quite some time now, and we are waiting for differences to be settled so that a vice chancellor can be appointed soon,” he expressed.

Interestingly, IBA Sukkur is the only public sector university in Sindh for which the varsity’s senate has the power to make appointments on key posts including that of the vice chancellor.

For other public sector universities and certificate-granting institutions of Sindh, the vice chancellor is appointed by the chief minister on the recommendation of the provincial search committee.

Meanwhile, a summary prepared by the Sindh universities and boards department pointed out ‘shortcomings’ in the IBA Sukkur Act was presented before the provincial cabinet. Proposing an amendment in sub-clause V of Section 2 of the 2017 Act, the summary stated that for other varsities it is the Sindh chief minister who has the power to appoint heads of government universities and education boards in the province based on the recommendation of the search committee, which is notified by the universities and boards department.

In the case of IBA Sukkur the search committee is constituted by the varsity’s senate. The department called for an amendment to transfer powers to the Sindh chief minister.