Nepotism at play?: After barely passing, VC’s son gets top university job

Arid Agriculture University VC had employment conditions relaxed to facilitate son’s hiring as assistant director.

RAWALPINDI:

The outgoing vice chancellor of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University (PMASAAU) has had his son inducted as an assistant director (AD) in the varsity, apparently relaxing relevant rules and regulations.

Last week, the PMASAAU syndicate approved the appointment of Irfan Munir, the son of Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Munir, as an assistant director in BPS-17 in the university’s Institute of Management Sciences, university officials told The Express Tribune.

The university policy for hiring officials in grades 16 and above calls for first divisions throughout the applicant’s student life, while the younger Munir has a third division on his secondary school certificate, said an official close to the recruitment process.

While Dr Munir retired on Saturday after reaching the age of superannuation, his son had been working as an AD at UIMS on contract for four months before being regularised.

The official further confided that Irfan was initially inducted as an assistant registrar in the accounts department on contract basis and was later transferred to UIMS as assistant director without advertising the post, another relaxation extended to the son of the university head.

The official further said that the selection committee ignored many applicants with outstanding academic records and gave Irfan preference for having “relevant experience of four months”.

The university advertised the post of AD with the condition of a first division MBA without mentioning any required experience, but when the interviews of applicants were taken, they were rejected for being short of experience in government or semi-government organisations.

The official source further revealed that attempts were made to accommodate another close relative of the VC as assistant registrar.

The candidate has already been working in the university as a computer assistant but his case was not recommended by the selection committee.

When contacted, AAU Registrar Maqbool Awan said no violation had been made. However, he could not answer questions about relaxing the policy on first division candidates and changing the advertised criteria.

The registrar also confirmed that the university had received applications from candidates more qualified than the VC’s son.

Despite repeated attempts, Dr Munir could not be reached for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2012.