Campus issues: AIOU facing administrative problems; VC refutes blames

ISLAMABAD:

Allama Iqbal Open University is faced with a host of problems, but the administration is not bothered to address them.

Mismanagement and misuse of funds is being cited by many employees, who are further frustrated by the fact there is no proper avenue to record their complaints.

According to sources, the administration recently purchased over 300 computers without a proper demand evaluation. “I was told to exchange my computer with the new one, but I do not need a new one and see no reason for it,” said a professor in the science department. Interestingly, there are some staffers who do need new personal computers, but they were overlooked. “I am using an aging system and despite many requests, I have yet to be provided with a new one,” said a teacher at the Mass Communication Department.

On the other hand, the employees were frustrated and irked by the varsity administration’s unwillingness to hold elections for the Employees Welfare Association (EWA) in the last three years. “We don’t have access to the top management on issues related to salary, duties and other affairs as there is no elected body which can address our issues in collaboration with university bosses,” said Saeed Ahmed, a staffer at the administration department.

In addition, the degree verification issue --- which emerged following allegations that AIOU Vice Chancellor Nazir Ahmed Sangi had a fake degree --- has still not been resolved. All employees of Grade-16 and above were ordered to submit their degrees to the university administration, but despite the passage of weeks, staffers are still in the dark on the issue.



On administrative issues at the university, Sangi said it is “mere propaganda” that some people are being awarded special contracts. “I assure you that there isn’t anything to this and these claims are being made by people who do not know anything,” he said.

About the purchase of PCs, he said there were many aging systems which needed to be replaced and the purchasing was purely on merit.

He added that the “EWA elections issue is being blown out of proportion. The associations have not completed their audits, and I have told them the day they submit the audit, they will get the go-ahead for elections.

On the degrees verification issue, the VC said the process is underway and degrees are being verified from the respective institutions of the employees.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.