Edwardes College’s acting principal and vice principal’s promotion questioned

PESHAWAR: Some senior faculty members of the Edwardes College Peshawar have raised questions over the promotion of the acting principal and vice-principal of the institution and appealed to the board of governors to probe the matter impartially so that justice and fairness could be ensured.

Through separate letters to the chairman and members of the board of governors, a retired and a serving faculty member alleged that the incumbent acting principal and vice-principal got themselves promoted to BPS-20 illegally in violation of the service rule of 1991 through an unsanctioned committee.

Acting principal of the college Shujaat Ali Khan, however, rejected the allegations as baseless. “A proper procedure had been adopted and according to that procedure the promotions took place,” he told The News.

The professors claimed that the promotions were approved under the carpet in the 12th Budget Meeting of the board which was held in June 2023. According to Edwardes College Service Rules, 1991 under the title, seniority in rule 21 established the structure of the sanctioned Promotion Committee for promotion to grades 19 to 20 as “Promotion to grade 19 and 20 shall be on the recommendation to a committee consisting of the vice chancellor, secretary Education, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the principal,” the letters stated.

The promotion of acting principal and vice-principal to BPS-20 was made by an allegedly illegal and unsanctioned committee.The minutes of the said promotion committee dated October 20, 2022, mention four members instead of the sanctioned three-member committee as per Service Rules, 1991 including the secretary higher education, vice-chancellor of University of Peshawar, acting principal of Edwardes College and additional secretary colleges, Higher Education.

This committee was allegedly constituted in violation of the sanctioned three-member committee as per service rules, 1991.This discrepancy between the membership of the promotion committee in light of its minutes and minutes of the June 13, 2023, Executive Committee raised questions on the professional integrity and impartiality of the committee.

The record also reveals that the actual minutes of the Promotion Committee of October 20, 2022, have not been placed and discussed in the Executive Committee, the professors further alleged.

The Annual Performance Reports (APRs) — one essential requirement for promotion — of the acting principal was not generated and presented to the committee. The legal course of action should have referred to the issue of the promotion from BPS 19 to 20 to the BoG, highlighting all the relevant issues including the acting principal as the aspiring candidate. But the acting principal unfairly called the committee meeting and got himself and the other vice principal to BPS-20, the faculty members alleged.

To the worst, despite knowing that a senior faculty has raised objections over the issue in the court of law on January 9, 2023, the acting principal concealed the crucial facts. Further, the minutes of the Executive Committee of June 13, 2023, were approved under the carpet in the 12th Budget Meeting of the BoG on June 23, 2023, the faculty members went on to allege.

The senior faculty members pleaded that the promotion of the acting principal and vice principal should be put before an impartial committee for fairness and justice. They demanded to nullify the promotion ab initio and put it before the board of governors after a thorough evaluation.

The acting principal of the college, when reached for comments, rejected the allegations as a propaganda campaign launched by a “terminated professor” of the college. “His case is already on the agenda of the board of governors, which would decide his fate,” he said. The professor was exaggerating the issue and misrepresenting the facts. He has written to the governor and the secretary, the principal added.

“We are going to file a defamation suit against him. He approaches the Governor’s House and newspapers and misrepresents facts. The promotions had been made two years back by a proper promotion committee in which the chief minister, secretary of higher education and the vice-chancellor were the members. A proper procedure was adopted under which the promotion was made,” the acting principal claimed.