The HEC governing board was acting on Supreme Court orders issued on December 17, under which a new ED had to be appointed within 30 days. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Over four months of unrest and discontent among Higher Education Commission (HEC) employees, senior officials and the Establishment Division has apparently come to an end following the selection of a new executive director (ED).
The 17-member HEC commission on Sunday announced Dr Mukhtar Ahmed as the new HEC ED. He was picked out of 12 candidates shortlisted on Saturday.
The HEC governing board was acting on Supreme Court orders issued on December 17, under which a new ED had to be appointed within 30 days.
HEC Chairman Dr Javaid R Laghari chaired the meeting, which was also attended by two federal secretaries and representatives of the provincial governments.
Dr Ahmed has been the deputy director general of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Morocco since Feb 2011.
He has done his bachelors and masters from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, along with a Master in Business Administration and PhD from the University of California, Riverside, USA.
A former HEC Operations and Planning member, Dr Ahmed brings over 23 years of educational development and management experience with him.
Mukhtar has been given a 15-day deadline to accept the appointment offer in writing. If he fails to do so or refuses, the next person will be considered. That person is Dr Zabita Khan, who is currently serving as the chair of the biotechnology department at the Quaid-i-Azam University.
All is not well
Now that it seems the post of ED will be filled soon, the focus on Monday (today) will shift to the courts.
On Friday, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the HEC chairman to appear before the court on January 21 with relevant records regarding petitions filed by two HEC directors general who had challenged the hiring process for the new ED.
The petition contended that the HEC was going to fill the post in a hurry in collusion with the HEC chairman and other members of the selection board.
The petition said the board had managed to get the terms and conditions of service changed quite contrary to those mentioned in the advertisement.
According to the amended terms and conditions, the executive director will be given the status of a vice chancellor instead of an MP-1 on the management pay scale, the petition said.
The HEC must also submit a compliance report to the Supreme Court.
Despite the withdrawal of Dr Sohail Naqvi, who was at the heart of the controversy at the HEC, the two DGs are standing by their petitions. An official at HEC told The Express Tribune that though the move was aimed at stopping Naqvi from being reappointed, they have concerns about the transparency of the selection process.
HEC Chairman Laghari told The Express Tribune that the candidates were already informed about the new conditions of the job and all of them signed the undertaking as well. “There does not seem any glitch because federal secretaries were also present and their endorsement counts as the government’s recommendation.”
The tussle at the HEC started on October 24, 2012 after the Establishment Division sent the HEC chairman a letter declaring all appointments on management position (MP) scales made by the commission illegal, adding that the appointing authority for MP scale posts is the prime minister. The Establishment Division also directed that Qamar Zaman, a BS-22 Secretariat Group officer, be given the additional charge of HEC executive director. Zaman replaced Naqvi, who the Establishment Division said was illegally appointed for a third term.
In addition, permanent employees felt threatened by Naqvi as he was allegedly going to regularise most HEC contractual employees.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2013.
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