Controversy: HEC awaits court verdict over new director

HEC employees prevented senior educationists from entering building.

ISLAMABAD:

The Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) board of directors has expressed readiness to abide by Supreme Court directives over the appointment of a new director. 

The HEC has been at the centre of controversy since the Establishment Division issued a notification on November 28 to replace Executive Director Sohail Naqvi with Major (retired) Qamar Zaman.  Zaman was declared executive director after Naqvi’s contract was terminated over alleged improprieties in the extension of tenure.

Since then, the plot has split in two directions: on one hand, the matter of appointing a new executive director by an external authority is considered a breach of HEC’s autonomy. On the other hand, the government employees in the HEC oppose Naqvi’s reinstatement, who they believe will threaten their promotion.

A petition challenging the Establishment Division’s notification, on the grounds that HEC has the sole authority of appointing its director is pending in the Supreme Court. The next hearing is scheduled for December 17.



On Friday, the commission’s 17-member board of directors met at the HEC building to discuss its position in the ongoing controversy. The board announced that it will accept the apex court’s judgment regarding the appointment of the director. But, it also maintained that in the absence of court directives, the power to appoint a new director rests with the commission, and that the extension given to Naqvi is valid.

After the meeting, hundreds of protesting employees barged into HEC Chairman Javed Leghari’s office, chanting slogans against Leghari and Naqvi.

In a shocking display of disrespect towards senior educationists, government employees had stopped vice chancellors from different Pakistani universities from entering the commission’s premises on Friday morning.

The employees told The Express Tribune they believed that vice chancellors were invited by Leghari to pressurise the HEC board to yield to their demands.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2012.