GCU registrar’s appointment illegal, finds HED

HED maintains registrar's appointment violates the university’s and govt rules.

LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) wants the registrar of Government College University (GCU) to step down because his appointment violates the university’s rules and government rules, an official in the department told The Express Tribune.

The department received a summary from GCU Vice Chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab a week ago asking that Faisal Khurshid’s three-year contract as registrar, which ends October 12 (today), be extended.

A letter from the vice chancellor that accompanied the summary asked the department to consider the registrar’s three years in office a probation period and to confirm him as a permanent appointment.

The official said that summary had now been forwarded to the department’s secretary with notes attached commenting that the appointment of the registrar on a three-year contract was illegal because under the GCU Ordinance 2002, the post of registrar is permanent, not contractual. When the registrar was granted his three-year contract in October 2007, the Punjab was being run by a caretaker set-up.

The official said the HED had suggested that the registrar, in accordance with the Punjab Government Contract Policy 2004, quit his office when his contract ends on October 12. If he did not, the vice chancellor would be considered responsible for allowing his illegal tenure to continue, said the official.

The official said that the vice chancellor’s request was ‘irregular’. His suggestion that the registrar’s three-year tenure be considered a probation period and he be made a permanent appointment was “ridiculous” and demonstrated complete ignorance of the rules, he said.

The official said that the HED wanted the GCU to follow the ordinance in recommending a new registrar. According to the GCU Ordinance 2002, the university syndicate must form a search committee, which must then advertise for the post and conduct interviews. It should then send its recommendation to the HED for approval.

The official said that the HED’s comments about the violation of rules and regulations would be sent to the chief minister and later to the governor, who is also the GCU’s chancellor, for approval.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2010.