Who’s in charge?: Sans legal standing, NUML’s status up in the air

The university’s ordinance lapsed in 2011, renewal still not on cards.

ISLAMABAD:

The National University of Modern Languages (Numl) is being run under an ordinance which lapsed in 2011, yet the varsity continues to operate normally while the ordinance is still pending approval from the Senate.

President Asif Ali Zardari on March 14, 2011 issued an ordinance despite resistance from the then National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education, several politicians and former executive director (ED) of the Higher Education Commission Sohail Naqvi.

A new clause was introduced saying the “chairman board of governors (BoG) means the chief of army staff (COAS) or his nominee.” The ordinance expired after 90 days and was not reintroduced.

At present, the university’s affairs are being run under an ordinance promulgated in 2000 by the university’s BoG.

Initially, there was no mention of a BoG chairman in the ordinance as the president is the designated chancellor of all universities in the federal capital, whereas governors take the role in the provinces.

The then-standing committee had unanimously recommended that army officials should not be involved in areas outside their constitutional domain and that President Zardari should retain the administrative role of Numl chancellor. At the time of its formation, it was not clear whether the university was an army-run facility or a public sector institution as Gen Pervez Musharraf, the head of the board, was both the army chief and chief executive of the country.

A bill to appoint the COAS as BoG chairman was placed in the National Assembly in March 2011 and was strongly opposed by then-opposition members Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Abid Sher Ali. It passed in the National Assembly but could not do so in the Senate after strong opposition from the Naqvi, who asserted that Numl was a public sector university funded by the HEC.

Additionally, the fact that the university’s board has not met since 2008 is a violation of the ordinance, which says that the board shall meet at least twice a year.

Meanwhile, the legality of appointments in the university made after the ordinance lapsed in 2011 remains up in the air. When contacted, Numl Public Relations Officer Amir Saleem was of the view that the university management did not have any problems with the status quo. “We have no ambiguity about running the affairs of the university,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2013.