HEC members dislodge chairman Banori

14 of 21 members of HEC approve no confidence resolution

ISLAMABAD:

The dispute between the Federal Education Ministry and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) escalated on Tuesday, with a majority of the commission members showing lack of confidence in the chairman, Tariq Banori, and taking back his discretionary powers.

Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said that a clear majority of the HEC members had expressed concern over the misuse of powers, adding that the purpose of the government proposed ordinance was to assess the performance of the head of HEC every two years.

Federal Secretary Education and Professional Training Naheed Shah Durrani issued a formal resolution, approved by 14 of the 21 members of the commission. The majority of the members also declared recent interviews for the post of executive director illegal.

According to the ministry sources, the members who expressed no-trust in the HEC chairman include Engineer Ahmed Farooq Bazai, Prof Dr Javed Iqbal, Prof Dr Ataur Rehman, Dr Arif Nazir Butt, Secretary Abdul Sabur Kakar, Dr Bhavani Shankar Chaudhry, Dr Akram Sheikh, Dr Nadira Panjwani, Dr Shaista Sohail, Dr Naveed Malik, the education secretary, the science and technology secretary, provincial Punjab higher education department secretary and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa education secretary.

Shafqat Mahmood said that most of the HEC members had expressed concern over the misuse of powers in the commission, adding that it was not possible for the ministry to assign higher education for four years to a person whose performance had not been reviewed.

Referring to court cases on the matter, he said that it was not known whether the notification for the removal of Tariq Banuri would be rescinded or the entire ordinance would be quashed in the detailed judgment of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). He added that the government would appeal against the IHC order.

Commenting on the resolution, HEC chairman Dr Tariq Banuri said that some people were so afraid of accountability that they were determined to destroy the entire system in order to retain their hegemony. He added that he would give his reply after consultation.