Governor to quiz aspiring VCs

Candidates called for interviews before notification

LAHORE:

After receiving a summary from the Punjab chief minister regarding the appointment of vice chancellors of government universities, Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has decided to interview the selected candidates.

According to sources, the Governor's Secretariat called all the top candidates nominated by the CM and advised them to meet him on Tuesday. The governor is the chancellor of the public sector universities in the province.

The sources said the governor will interview and ascertain the vision of the candidates before the notification of their appointment is issued.

The candidates for appointment as VC will be interviewed by both the chief minister and the governor for the first time in the academic history of the province.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif had herself interviewed the candidates shortlisted for appointment as VCs of 11 big public sector universities of the province two weeks back.

After the interviews, the summary for the appointments from the CM was forwarded to the governor for signing, sparking rumours .that he might have reservations about the candidates.

The academic community had been waiting for the governor's assent. Especially the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) had demanded immediate appointment of the VCs of the government universities.

The sources said seven candidates whose names had been suggested by the CM Secretariat had been invited to the Governor House for the interviews.

One of the candidates said he found it surprising that he had been again called for an interview after having appeared before the chief minister and giving a brief interview.

He said that after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the Punjab chief minister was authorised to conduct such interviews and the governor was bound to follow the advice of the CM Secretariat regarding the appointment of VCs. "Now the situation is embarrassing for me and other candidates who have already appeared before the CM," he added.

He said the governor was the chancellor of the public sector universities and he could invite any professor for a meeting, but the move to meet the candidates for appointment as VC was worrisome.

He said that despite the fact that there was a power-sharing arrangement for government in Punjab, but it would be a unique event that the candidates had been asked for an interview for the second time.

An official said the Governor's Secretariat had given the time of 11:00am for the meeting with the top candidates for the posts and it might be intended to know the vision of candidates about running the universities.

He said the chancellor might issue the final summary for the appointments after the meeting and the decision was likely after he would meet the candidates.

The posts of VC of 25 public sector universities in Punjab are vacant and the provincial government has started a process to appoint permanent heads of the institutions.

FAPUASA President Dr Amjad Magsi said the academic community was happy over transparency having been maintained by the provincial government during the whole process of the appointment of the VCs.

"Our only concern is the immediate appointment of the VCs as all stakeholders in the universities are facing problems in the absence of permanent VCs. We are hopeful that maybe the summary of the appointments would be issued after the fresh meeting," the leader of the academic staff federation added.