PESHAWAR: Some former vice-chancellors and meritorious professors of the University of Agriculture, Peshawar have asked the university administration to look into their longstanding appeal for grant of the status of professor emeritus and approve their application positively.
Vice-chancellor of the university Dr Jahan Bakht said on the other hand that the posts of professor emeritus were only four and the number of eligible candidates was nearly 10, which made it difficult for them to make an early decision. However, he said that some out of the box solution would be worked out for the matter.
In an application to the vice-chancellor, a former vice-chancellor of the university Prof Dr Said Khan Khalil and a meritorious professor Dr Riaz Khattak said that the University of Agriculture Statutes 2016 allowed conferment of status of professor emeritus on persons who retired as vice-chancellor or as meritorious professor (BPS-21 and 22).
They said that in line with the university statutes they - Dr Said Khan Khalil and Dr Riaz Khattak were eligible for the status of professor emeritus, but the university administration had been using delaying tactics since 2019 to give them their genuine right.
The application stated that the university syndicate had been considering the case since 2019 and various committees were assigned the task to finalize the recommendations, but the matter was dealt with in a very casual manner and no approval could be granted on one pretext and another.
The professors added that the university senate in its meeting in June 2022 also directed the university administration to immediately inform all meritorious professors and vice-chancellors to apply for appointment as professor emeritus and take necessary action within two months positively.
The university had also been directed to create more positions of professor emeritus as per law, if not already available and share material progress with the senate in its next meeting, the minutes of the meeting stated. But no such action could be taken despite the passage of one year.
The professors said that the rules were clear and all other universities in the province as
well as the country have been granting the status of professor emeritus to the eligible candidates except the University of Agriculture, which is reluctant to grant the status to its eligible, deserving and fully entitled meritorious professors.
Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr Jahan Bakht said that in line with the limited number of the positions and the high number of candidates they were facing a bit of confusion as to how to deal with the matter.
He said that the dearth of financial resources in the university was also hampering the award of the status of professor emeritus to the eligible candidates.
He said in view of the prevailing situation, they were having two options. One, only four of the eligible candidates would be awarded the status along with perks and privileges and that would be done purely on merit. The other option was that all the eligible candidates would be awarded the title of professor emeritus sans perks, he added. He said that the matter would be taken up positively in the university’s syndicate meeting.
