Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PHOTO: AFP
The prime minister on Wednesday announced the formation of a search committee to select a new chief of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) by February 12, the deadline set by the Islamabad High Court.
The issue was highlighted by the press after it appeared that the appointment of a permanent chief was not a priority for the government.
The Ministry of Education Trainings and Standards in Higher Education sent a summary to the Cabinet Division with two options a month ago. The first was the regularisation of the acting chairperson, Imtiaz Hussain Gilani and the second option was the establishment of a search committee headed by the chairperson of the Planning Commission, the education minister and secretary and two eminent scholars notified by the former.
According to an official in the ministry, the media campaign against Gilani by former employees of the HEC politicised the issue and forced the PM to notify a search committee. “He is a PhD scholar, he has experience in management of affairs related to higher education and is at ease while communicating with the minister and senior officers,” the source stated. Gilani is also the vice chancellor of the University of Engineering Technology Peshawar and was appointed in November last year.
He said that as soon as the minister finalised the names of the two scholars, the committee would start the headhund for the HEC chief. The tenure of former chairperson Javiad Laghari, who was appointed by the Pakistan Peoples Party for four years, ended on August 27, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2014.
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